199

Today was a quiet day. I slept until 10:15. Doug slept until well after 11. Toffee understood the assignment too, and slept and slept. Usually Geoff will be up and noisy and go to the gym at 8:30, but today he skipped. 

We hung out, drank coffee, and had some left over turkey things for lunch. Little turkey and bacon sliders. Hella good. 

I did a few cleaning things, Doug took a nap (after sleeping late!) and I decided to bake.

Sometimes, there are leftover ingredients in containers when you follow a recipe. Doug had about 4 oz of left over carrots, 2 or 3 oz of leftover pineapple, and a scoop of pumpkin. So I mixed them all together with a base of banana bread and an extra egg. Boom. Gorgeous muffins. 

While Doug was napping and the muffins were in the oven, I did a 13 min. walk inside. 

Also, this happened yesterday. 

I weigh myself once a week or so, and I've been consistently between 203 and 206 for months. I was stuck at 208 for a super long time. Yesterday, busted through the 200 mark to 199.6 fully clothed.

It's been a long time trying to get to this point. Hurray for me. I'll see how long we stay below 200, before I pick a new goal weight. Technically I'm not yet at 199 ... I am still over it, but I will take this damn victory and rejoice. 

 Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. 13 min indoor walk; 6k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10:30am: 193
5pm: 173
10:15pm: 191

food:
coffee/water
noon: turkey sliders: 2 kings hawaiian rolls w/turkey, mayo, bacon, cranberry sauce
12:30pm: Metformin
4pm: 2 carrot muffins
6pm: leftover turkey, risotto/squash stuff; potatoes, gravy; white wine
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
8pm: ramekin of candied cashews
white wine

Thanksgiving is a wrap

I woke up at 8am and Doug had the turkey in the oven already. We'd told his aunt and cousin dinner was at 1. They got here after 2:30, rather on brand.

Everything was ready - even the walls. Oh let me tell you why the walls were ready. 

Doug was trying to pull down one onion from the wee onion basket on the top of the pantry bookcase. One. Onion. He managed to rotate the basket (rather than take it down and take a freaking onion out of it) and whacked the brand new bottle of Frank's red hot, causing it to come plummeting down from oh, 6 and a half feet up in the air. 

Because we're us, there was laughter, there was cleanup (as he was in the middle of mashing the potatoes and making the butternut squash/orzo thing). And Toffee tried to help too - she enjoyed licking the floor before I could get her in the kennel and prevent that happening. 

Our oven does not have a hood/fan so I've been noticing how gross the walls and cabinets are. I did the cabinets all around the dishwasher and front of the sink. I have a note to self to do other things. And today one whole wall got cleaned, because it was covered in hot sauce and gross anyway. 

This activity was not on my list of things to do. But the wall and the floor are now spotless. More to come I'm sure, with some free time this weekend. 

I took this picture halfway through cleaning it all up. I should have thought to grab the phone before I started wiping and spraying.

Dinner was great. Doug's aunt doesn't have any hearing aids right now, so it was impossible to communicate with her. After dinner, she handed me a pair of apple ear buds and told me they were her hearing aids. 

No.

But they won't stay in her ears and they don't work when people are talking to her. 

Uhhhh. No. 

Explaining to her that these are not hearing aids, they're for listening to her iPad or iPhone. She said no. That's not true. They are hearing aids. 

To prove me right, I had her put them in, and I called her from outside. She could hear everything. Then she asked again why they don't stay in her ears. Girlfriend, I don't know. Not my job. She and Doug's cousin fell asleep on the couch watching TV, so Doug and I took Toffee for a 10 or so minute walk as it was windy and cold out - and we didn't go far. Just enough to get out there and claim we took a walk. 

I didn't take pictures of our two desserts in action but both were very good. Very dense and thick and rich. Delicious. I had a little of the pumpkin cheesecake lasagna thing Doug made (he said it didn't need the caramel sauce, and we should have toasted/candied the pecans. I agreed). The blueberry thing I made was excellent. 

We watched some Bob's Burgers Thanksgiving episodes (with the captions on for Doug's aunt) and eventually they left. We watched more. And then football. I texted back and forth for a while with Aaron, hilariously. Doug put on turkey stock, and the house smells amazing, even now at bedtime. 

If you are reading this, I hope wherever you are, and whatever you did today was great. I hope you have a thankful heart for the things in your orbit. And if you're in a rough place with this holiday, know I love you. 

Digits below this Bob and Linda classic. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 10 min brisk outdoor walk; 9200+steps by bedtime was on target to hit 10k but was talking with Linda and suddenly, midnight came.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 164
xpm: skipped afternoon reading too close to dinner
11:45pm: 198

food:
coffee/water
11am: Metformin
12:30pm: bowl of greek yogurt w/blueberries
2:45pm: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, "sunshine salad," orzo & butternut squash casserole; white wine
4:30pm: pie and a goodly amount of it
6pm: metformin+jardiance

A Lemon Jello and Lemon Pudding Thanksgiving

In the past, we've done hosting and traveling for Thanksgiving. Long time readers of this blog are aware of our travails and our feasts lo these many Novembers. 

This year it is just Doug's aunt and cousin coming over. Not a big fun Thanksgiving funfest with all the friends and family. Jess and Linda are up by my mom. And Doug's mom and sister aren't into traveling here to us (and we've not been invited up there) so we go all out for the food shenanigans.

Truth be told, if Doug's aunt and cousin weren't coming over, I wouldn't be showering and putting on clothing. It would be PJs and slacker thanksgiving all day for me.

I'm kind of sad because of the falling out with our friend, because they've been here so many times, and we've been to them, and we've always had such a fun time. I wanted to have Thanksgiving with them, but it ... isn't going to be a thing. Doug said he's feeling really sad too right now, but he's a Rise Above It kind of guy. I wish I had that super power.

Thanksgiving is Doug's favorite holiday. He loves the food, the friendship, the hanging out, the football. Planning the food. Making the food. We don't get too fussy or anything. We're actually very well known for our low key vibe and all the foods.

Doug gets super bummed out when people (some friends of ours) make the day political, focus on only the indigenous story. The day of mourning. He wants everyone to try and move past that narrative and those events, and use the day, weekend, time to focus on joy and thankfulness for where we are right now. Let people know you love them. Be with them. And we've both decided that letting friends be mad about 1620, even though there is nothing that can be changed about it, but then inviting them to come eat is the kindest thing to do. 

Make it all a new tradition. It won't replace the past, but it can be a new tradition for you.

While I was in Annapolis, he did the grocery shopping, got all the things. Most of the things. He has some different dishes planned this year, like something with butternut squash/orzo/parmesan dish, and a Sunshine Salad which is, if you remember, part of the Jello family of things. We will have a jello thing. He is a western Pennsylvania guy, after all.

He bought an unbelievable amount of Lemon Pudding from Jello, by accident. He went to Giant, thinking he was grabbing Lemon Jello. Went to Target, and ... made the same mistake, and got more Pudding. Doh. 

So he said (with a dramatic flourish) he was abandoning the Sunshine Salad theory. "It's not meant to be this year! Not meant to be!" 

But, I had gotten things worked out with my prescription, so, well, I was going out to get that picked up. I was willing to go to Target. We needed toilet paper and spray cleaner stuff. And dog cookies. And other things.

He thought I was insane but I shrugged my shoulders. I'm have to leave the house to get the testing strips, and take this one for the team. Securing my prescription successfully, I headed to Target. The traffic was, as expected, horrible but I found a decent place to stick the car, rather far from the door, so I could count it as walking time. 

In the building, I realized I'd left my list in the car. But I knew what I needed. I set to grabbing all the things. I wanted Constant Comment tea, they didn't have any. Dog cookies. check. Vanilla, brown sugar, yes. I grabbed a graham cracker crust for a different recipe (making use of  his overzealous purchasing of lemon pudding). I got diet cranberry, zero sugar ginger ale, TP, cleaning stuffs, new air freshener, and I went back to the car, which as I mentioned was parked very far away. 

I realized I'd forgotten the lemon jello. The reason for going into the damn store.

Hilarious.

So, was it just not meant to be! I heard him over-reacting in his dramatic Doug way in my head. No. I can walk over there to Giant, with the list in my hand, and get the other things I need. They had the tea I wanted, and I got Lemon Jello for him. I got blueberries to go into the last of the yogurt we have (so I can get that out of the refrigerator). Victory is mine.

Doug bought two cans of blueberry pie filling for me to make a blueberry pie, but on the can I noticed a recipe for blueberry lemon layer pie. 

With lemon pudding.

Well helllllllllo! A purpose for the lemon pudding!  

I showed it to him, and he lost his mind with joy and delight. A use for the pudding packets! Well, one at least. 

He made dinner for us while I was at the store, then made cranberry sauce. He mixed up a dessert of pumpkin pie mix, cream cheese, and a bunch of other sauce that we drizzle tomorrow with melted caramel sauce. Then he made his blessed sunrise salad. Thanks to me. I'm the hero. 

And I set to making my blueberry pie mess. 

Good thing I went and got those testing strips, eh? 

Blood, forgive me for tomorrow. I promise we'll bounce back. But to be honest, there is plenty of protein tomorrow. I'll take it easy on the pie, the sunshine salad, the pumpkin lasagna, all that nonsense. 

digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 measurable walks, 16 min for .65 miles and 12 min for .30 miles; 7200 steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

xam: n/a no strips
xpm: n/a no strips
10:30pm: 151

food:
coffee/water
11am: small bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
12pm: Metformin
12:30: English Muffin w/ pb; 2 Entenmann's donut hole "pop'ems" 
3pm: ramekin of candied cashews
6:30pm: bowl of rotini w/ sausage, sauce, and mozz cheese; metformin+jardiance 
vodka diet cranberry

One More Day

Why do I do this to myself! It is after 9pm and I'm basically caught up on work for the day. I scheduled three project transfer calls today. They all worked out but it was stressful on the way! Two more tomorrow. 4 clients unresponsive out of 70. I will be calling them personally next week. Even the two clients I honestly thought would not respond responded. So happy for that.

Doug took the day off because his sinuses are messed up and he just felt like crap. He sat here in the livingroom while I did two of the calls, I hope he enjoyed listening to me take care of people. I kind of want people to hear me doing my job. I think I'm loving and caring, friendly and supportive. I feel like my ego needs a boost. It was a busy and frustrating day but I survived. 

Doug took two naps. I was jealous. I wanted a nap. Damn.

I've been trying to find out what's up with one of my prescriptions (the testing strips) and the website says the prescription was filled on 11/10. I tried calling our pharmacy, but could not get a human. I think tomorrow I'll go over there. And be mad. 

But in a nice way. Like I do. 

I decided to make candied nuts rather late. It is over an hour baking time for them, and I was silly to start doing when I did. And then I over cooked them and disappointed myself. Completely. Boo. They don't suck all the way, just a little bit. 

So I'm mildly disappointed. I guess.

And... Tired. One more day and a break, kids. One more day.

FB memories shared this gem with me today, and I cherish it.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 12 min. / half mile indoor walk; 6700+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 161
n/a pm: skipping due to no testing strips
10pm: 141 (last testing strip until... who knows?) 

food:
coffee/water
noon: metformin
12:45: grilled cheese w/bacon on 647 bread
6pm: meatloaf & some form of Knorr's alfredo noodles that doug picked up. 
7pm: metformin+jardiance
9pm: burned ass cashews
vodka & diet tonic

Misty

On Friday I finally heard from the person I was wondering about a couple weeks ago. They wrote me back and basically friendship broke up with me. 

A lot of it felt completely unfair, and they offered me no opportunity whatsoever to dialog and apologize. I felt like I was sucker punched in the face. It hurt a lot. 

I won't share more than that except that I'm not sure what to do about it, what to do with how I feel. 

I want to, and will, talk to my sister and my bestie (and I know you are both reading this, so we'll connect soon. I'm a little in a fog and work has been busy). 

I did have a good talk about this with S over the weekend because we had opportunity, and it was sitting on my heart and in my head so huge and raw, I felt like it would ruin my weekend if I didn't share it with her.  

I still feel sad. Because I can't fix it. I can't make amends.

Because this person is his friend too (and probably by default is now NOT their friend), and our friend group is already very small, when I brought it up to him on Friday afternoon he was equally stunned. We spent a lot of time discussing this, trying to figure it all out, coming up with nothing. Just staring at each other across the living room, lost.

I did not sleep well Friday night at all. I took extra sleeping aids and didn't fall asleep until after 3am. Saturday morning we did our usual quiet and coffee, playing our phone games and reading the news. We hung out and talked even more, until I said I really didn't know what else to say so I didn't want to really talk more. 

He understood that, he honored that. Since S was picking me up between 2 and 3, he took Toffee for a walk and I finished my packing. When he got back I was still here. 

He said "Oh, I'm so glad you're still here because, I found something for you." He handed me a book. A copy of Misty of Chincoteague from one of the neighborhood Little Free Libraries. If you remember a previous entry from about 2 years ago. It has significance. 

This actually almost made me cry. The amount of time that he thinks of me, and he sees something that makes him remember me, who I am from my earliest eras (Taylor, we all have eras, yeah?). 

Long and the short of it is that I love him, I love that he's by my side and recognizes how I feel, and feels it with me. And knows what to do. And he got lucky, who knew it'd be in one of those boxes in our neighborhood. Luck made him look like a complete romantic champion. 

Ya know, our relationship is what matters the most. So thankful for the simple little things.

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  30 min/1.25mile indoor walk; 8k+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 171
5pm: 194
10pm: 191

food:
coffee/water
11am: bowl of mac&cheese w/bacon; metformin
noon: pbj on 647 bread w/low sugar jelly
5:30pm: 2 nice bowls of tuna casserole; metformin+jardiance
vodka tonic

Christine the Ninja

For the longest time, S has wanted to do an escape room with me. I'm not a huge fan, I don't like the time pressure, and to be honest, I'm not that good at puzzles. On this weekend with just us, I agreed to do it. 

Last night we talked until almost 2am. After she was asleep, I got a charley horse (usually happens when I'm dehydrated and of course, in the middle of the night). I applied some of her roll-on pain killer she uses for her back. And it burned.  Very different than the Biofreeze I usually use. Ouch. I drank a lot of water, stretched, and eventually got to sleep. 

I got up at 9:45, tested blood sugar, got coffee, did steps, went to the front desk and asked for late check out for noon which they happily approved. I walked around the hotel and looked at this really cool atrium they have, amazing space, really beautiful at night with the strings of little white lights glowing. 

I came back up, drank my coffee and played Pokemon while she snored gently. She kept getting alerts on her phone and ignoring them but eventually rolled over and acknowledged. She saw it was almost 11 and flipped out, asking when check out was. I told her I had handled it. 

"You are a ninja if you've been up all this time, I didn't hear you once!" I am a ninja. It's not hard to be quiet, but I'll take the compliment! 

After getting dressed an readied up for the day, we walked down to the Mission Escape Room. S picked and booked it for us, and I was worried that she'd walk in and solve it in 2 minutes because she's kind of an expert at these. Her family does them in every city they go to. 

My other fear was that we'd fail. 

We did not fail but we did have to ask for clues twice. One issue was actually a technical problem, because a piece of equipment was not working right, and we were sort of pissed. We were literally right on it - crushing it, and the thing wouldn't work. So we reported that to the girl, and she said they'd look into adjusting it

Anyway. No harm, no foul, we didn't get eaten by an actual Sasquatch and we had a lot of fun. 

Lunch was at a really nice upscale joint called Pearl in downtown Annapolis. The food was fantastic, the staff was lovely. I would have had cocktails, and I know S would have liked that too, but she was driving. After lunch, we walked around downtown and played Pokemon. S bought her son a cute stuffed Ram (Navy mascot) and a really good T-shirt he'll probably have for at least a year and grow into. 

We got home, she dropped me off, my house smelled outstanding as Doug had a pot roast going. I did my 5pm steps and decided I wanted a nap. So I took a nap. No guilt. nap. Missed the 6pm steps because I didn't set an alarm and my family was so quiet. 

Dinner was delightful. He did all the shopping for thanksgiving yesterday afternoon after I left so we are all set except for beer and wine. 

Great weekend. Happy to be home. S said to me that while we had just the best time, she couldn't wait to get home to her new cat for some major snuggles and purrs. "Is that weird?" No honey - I can't wait to get back to ole Toffee!

Digits below the keycards from the hotel, student IDs of famous graduates from the academy. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  Missed 6pm, napping! 16 min. nice leisurely walk around Annapolis, 7200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:45am: 206
xpm: n/a since late lunch and no metformin
9:30pm: 191

food:
coffee/water
11am: Jardiance (I somehow had 4 of those, and none of the metformin)
2pm: pork egg roll appetizer; Fried chicken on mixed greens salad w/goat cheese & slivered pears; risotto, broiled Brussels sprouts, a few spoonfuls of S's pot de creme dessert; 2 beers
4:30pm: metformin
7pm: pot roast 
8:30pm: tea w/Geoff
9:30pm: Metformin 

Annapolis

We end the Birthday Week with me and S (no husbands or kid) in Annapolis to see our friend Tim K perform at a little listening space in downtown. S picked me up at about 3pm, and traffic sucked. We had a 4:15 appointment for an escape room, but we called and moved it to tomorrow. 

We got to the hotel, checked in, it is cute as all get out. It is one of those Graduate hotels that Hilton runs, and because this is home to the Naval Academy, everything is full of nautical nonsense. A little expensive (on the Doug scale this would be right out), but. We're splitting it so I booked it. The Marriott in town was crazy expensive, and the next nearest one is where S and I stayed a year ago when we came to see Amythyst Kiah at Ram's Head. This hotel is 2 blocks from where Tim was playing. Boom. 

We dumped our stuff and ran next door to the video game bar Game On. We had a couple drinks, played a game called What's Your Meme, ordered 2 individual pizzas (we should have split one) and then Skee Ball. 

Time to head over to Tim but we were too early, so we sat and ordered more food. And espresso martinis. Because birthday. 

Tim has been playing out for a few years, he's a teacher (school/music) and a music teacher, and he's a pretty great guy. We'd been hoping to see him at some point, so .. why not this weekend. There were a ton of people there to see him. His friend warmed up the crowd, he was alright but I wanted Tim to start playing. Finally. He did. Chrissy gets tired, yo. Up past my bed time! 

He did all originals, no covers (he was prepared to do covers if necessary) but the audience was receptive to him and his music. It was a really great show. A great deal of fun. He even performed with his dad, who did the song he wrote for his own wedding to Tim's mom (This was the Tim's Gonna Make Mom Cry set). It was very sweet, and she sat in her seat and sang along with him, while he looked at and sang to her. 

Just, incredibly cute. 

I had carrot cake and an espresso martini (they were very weak tbh) and that obviously has an impact on the sugars tonight. 

Good times. And tomorrow, escape room! 

Here's some Tim pics. digits below!

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  Missed 3pm due to being stuck in the car; 25 min. indoor walk, 1.1 miles. 10k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:15am: 163
4:15pm: 171
11:30pm: 270

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: Metformin, bowl of chicken salad
4:30pm: pizza, high noons, I think I took metformin + jardiance with the pizza?
7pm: brie cheese w/grapes, crackers, apple. espresso martinis (3) 
9:30pm: carrot cake

Snowing

Last night, I was watching the Steelers/Browns game in the absolute snow globe of a stadium there in Cleveland. Snow. Wow. It was hard to see the players, it was kind of wild. I worried about all the people who had to drive home in that weather. In the fourth quarter I realized I had not started this blog entry for 11/21, and I was too lazy to do so. Today you get ... double the boring.

This morning, it was cold here. it is in the upper 30s, which is cold. And it was snowing. 

Actual snowing. Not like the football game last night, but enough that it was noticeable. I tried to take some pictures but the flakes weren't showing up well. Still. It was pretty to watch. 

Every third Friday we have something called Sprint Review where the product and dev teams show what they did over the last period of time, and what is planned for the next period of time. It is always really nice to get caught up with all the products that I don't support and get surprised by news on the products I do support. 

Reminds me I need to log into the ticket tracking system and read all of the issue responses that I need to read. 

I sat sipping my coffee, watching out the window, listening to the product teams present, and just relaxed. Watched it snow. Snow with still so much vibrant color up in the trees. Very surreal.  

There were other meetings, and helpdesk tickets, and I had a wonderful chat with a colleague who has been very sick and is back to work, so it was nice to just chat with him about life and stuff. And he has a new little dog, we dog parent bragged on our babies with each other.

Around 4pm, I got my annual review "packet" delivered to me, where my manager and two peers wrote up incredibly kind and wonderful things. Challenges for me to consider. Suggestions for making my involvement more powerful in the organization. I have to sit with some of this and read it over again. Interesting way to end the work day. 

That is as exciting as this gets. I guess. Digits below the ... not very exciting pictures of snow stuff. You can see a flake or two...

thursday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  16 min. indoor walk; 5600 steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 124
5pm: 151
11pm: 191

food:
coffee/water
10:30am: pb on 647 white
11:45am: metformin; bowl of the spicy thai soup thing (finished it up) 
6pm: chili w/corn chips, cheese, sour cream
7pm: metformin+jardiance
8pm: all the rest of the corn chips

friday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 22min  indoor walk while dinner was cooking. 6500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 163
4:30pm: 154
10:45pm: 151

food:
coffee/water
12 noon: Metformin. Tuna melt w/ havarti cheese on 647 bread
6pm: bowl of linguini and meat sauce
6:45pm: metformin+jardiance
1/2 a beer, split with Doug 

Mouth Stones

I've had teeth my whole life. Maybe you have too. 

First was a bunch of wee tiny teeth, they went away. Maybe yours did too. 

Then big kid teeth came in. I bet yours did too, if you had the tiny ones like I did. 

And I had cavities. So I've had fillings for like 50 something years. Maybe you do too.  

My dentist commented earlier this year that some of my fillings were shrinking, "leaking" as he put it. He asked me if I was feeling any pain from liquid. Too cold, too hot, was chewing painful?  Nope. He said "good, we're catching you before that starts to happen. And it will." 

So we have been replacing my fillings, one or two at a time. Today, was the big mama. A big huge filling in one of my molars. And I didn't want to go. I didn't want to do it. I'm not in the mood. I am tired. I like being able to eat and chew, and that's going to be a no for like 2 hours or more after the appointment. Why do I make dentist appointments at 5:30pm, and say "work is important so I don't want to miss out on it, so I'll do the last appointment of the day!" 

Booooooo. 

Anyway. 

I went, it was fine, in fact he and I had discussed how the last session he had to double dose me with Novocain because I could feel things that he was doing. Sometimes people are like that. So he did - he mega dosed me, hugely. And then he said "don't eat, until maybe 8pm. Drink wine. go to bed." 

Dude is a riot. 

He also told me that he was so happy to get to do this filling over. "Very rarely do I run into a tooth that is like a perfect model of the dental school fillings we get to practice. And this was exactly like the textbook case. Perfect opening, absolutely oval. Outstanding." Seeing him shoot his fists up in the air after he finished was very funny. It is 9:xx pm and my mouth still does not feel ready. I bit my lip while trying to eat a couple hours ago, and so I didn't really try to eat more. 

I had talked to him about how it was my birthday yesterday and here I was. His son's birthday was yesterday. He laughed that I was taking care of this for my birthday time, and I told him "Self care for my birthday is the most important thing I could do." A few years ago, I had a mammogram on my birthday, so yeah. "Self care is a gift that I can give myself."

He seemed semi-blown away about that concept. And I told him about the mammogram a few years back and he thought it was genius to self care for a birthday. 

Four more to go. 

Digits below one of my favorite Strange Planet comics. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  two walks, 10 min to the dentist for .45 miles and another walk home for .7 miles for 16 min; 7k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 171
5pm: 171
9:30pm: 150

food:
coffee/water
11am: metformin; bowl of some sort of thai soup or something that I picked last night, but no one ate. Lots of veggies, beef, pork, chicken - spicy! 
1pm: apple w/pb
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
7pm: bowl of chorizo meat with some guacamole and sour cream (not able to necessarily eat right now)
9:45pm: entire bag of kettle corn
red wine

Gift of Idle Time

I took the day off for my birthday. Everyone I work with does that. and it is super smart and fun. As a Tuesday Birthday is something else after a Monday day off, why not just continue the ride. Why I didn't take off Wednesday too is beyond me. I woke up around the same time that I do every day, Toffee was snuggled up to the back of my legs after she had her breakfast and her outside trip. I could have stayed in bed but needed to pee. I did my blog entries for NY and that took a long time. Worth it.  

The only work related thing I did was cancel a meeting I forgot I had scheduled. But the guy was all set and we didn't need to meet after all anyway. I ignored my team slack channel but I did read other slack channels like the pets channel, which is always the best channel. My friend Sam and I caught up a little bit because I was near her house all weekend, but not near enough to go visit and whatnot. So I wanted to make sure she wasn't sore about it. It was a good thing we didn't try to connect. Her mom had emergency surgery on Saturday, so she was sitting bedside for the weekend, and she took yesterday off. 

My work bestie texted me a video of her son jumping around and wishing me a happy birthday, which made me so happy. She asked me if I was doing anything good. I told her I'd given myself the gift of idle time. I was doing nothing.  Well. Not exactly nothing. But. I loaded the dishwasher. I made myself lunch. I took Toffee for a walk, right before it started raining. We both needed it. 

I didn't shower, opted to not go out to dinner but ordered Thai food and Doug picked it up. Since I didn't have pad thai in NY why not get it from my favorite local spot. Geoff got home from work and we ordered, and it was worth it. 

The unbathed princess is pretty and happy. Idle time is awesome.

Jess sent me a cute little keychain from one of her very favorite graphic artists. And Doug got me an awesome Bob's Burgers themed sweatshirt. 

Wishing all y'all a great day on my birthday. Hope you made the best of it. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 walks, one with toffee (1mile, 24 min) and one inside when doug went to get dinner (.92 mile, 22 min). 10k+ steps by bedtime. Did not think I was going to get there but at 8pm when I saw I was just under 9k, well. push that last 1000 steps baby.

blood glucose:

9:15am: 175
4:30pm: 155
10:45pm: 190

food:
coffee/water
10am: entenmann's chocolate donut
11am: Metformin
11:30am: 4 strips of bacon, turkey, shredded cheddar, mayo, on a tortilla wrap
4:30pm: several celery sticks w/pb 
6:30pm: Thai food fun, spring rolls, pad thai, some other stuff I don't know what it was but I ordered it. Yum.
white wine

It wasn't the Camino, but it was my Camino

While I was in NY, my bestie finished her trek on the Camino de Santiago. I didn't ask her permission to show the photo/s of her smiling at the end, I'll let that be her story. But my pride in her was exquisite. She checked in with me often (God bless the fact texting exists, and the fact I wake up between 3-5am to go to the bathroom and saw her messages hours ahead of our time zone). 

I have thought about hikes like this, mostly wanting to do absolutely flat ones. In the past, I've walked from midtown Manhattan to the southern tip and back (college days) and I feel like I can for sure walk incredibly long distances until some motherfucker puts a hill in my way, and some other motherfucker puts a pint in my hands around lunchtime. 

God, no hills, yes beer. 

So I was super proud of C, and her trip, and her accomplishment. And hell if it didn't inspire me while I was schlepping around manhattan over the last four days. "C did 20 miles, I can do... two." 

Doug and I were talking about her trip on Camino and he said "yeah, Manhattan is a Camino where you can duck into any Irish pub, have a pint, a glass of water, go to the bathroom and head out again until you feel like stopping at another pub to do the same." 

He's right. 

We did something similar a few years back, of a camino of sorts to pubs. 

Doug plotted out the oldest bars in Manhattan and a walking tour of them. I can't find the entries, I swear I wrote about this. It would have been maybe 10 years ago now. But hell if we didn't walk all over hell and most of Manhattan visiting places like The White Horse Tavern, McSorley's, Fanelli's and The Ear. 

White Horse was full of hipsters so we didn't go in. You couldn't get into McSorley's at all. Fanelli's was equally crowded, but we managed a squeeze in. The best stop on the tour was The Ear. Not just because we got in, there was good food and enjoyable libations, but because it was just fucking cool. 

Anyway, here's some evidence of me having done a lot. Vegas was a lot, according to my fitbit, drilling back to the dates there, June 1st was just under 10 miles. In Vegas heat. Ugh. 

Seriously, I could have done more a couple of these days. But it's still something. 

Pass the Tylenol, please. 

Hell's Kitchen and Homeward Bound

(This is Monday, written on Tuesday, and backdated) 

Time to head home, I guess. 

I have to say, the weather was so fantastic, we were so lucky on this trip. To be out and walking around for hours, wearing a light sweatshirt, no sleet, no heat, no freezing, no whining (by me. None by me. Celebrate this fact with me). 

This felt like the perfect weekend. Hell it wasn't feeling like it was perfect, it was perfect.

We took our time in the morning, and went back once again to Hudson Bagel. Why mess with a good thing? Why go somewhere else and get a bad bagel. But can you get a bad bagel. Hell, I didn't want to find out. Stick with what you know and love! 

On a weekday at 9am it isn't nearly as crowded as the weekend days were, and the girl behind the counter recognized me when I came to order coffee while the bagels were making. 

Have to admit, this section of Manhattan has been a rough place for many years but right now, I felt as safe as anywhere. Having grown up near NYC we always heard stories about how shitty Hell's Kitchen was but it just feels like a neighborhood. Real people working there, and fewer tourists than two blocks east. Smaller buildings in a little gully between skyscrapers. I really loved it. I had never really explored 9th avenue, and it was delightful. Want pizza? There are dozens of little storefronts. Thai, Turkish, Chinese, Dive Bars, night clubs... 9th's got it for you. Want to go to Kiehl's, get some facial scrub, and then some Indian food, oh they are right next door. Bakeries, Bread and cookies, smells to delight. 9th avenue was pretty spectacular. 

Our hotel was really nice, Doug did a good job finding this one. It is old, for sure, but has that Lord Baltimore feeling that I like about old hotels. The room was a decent size and the very comfortable King bed filled it up well, which was fine because it was comfy and I wasn't in there to host a square dance. 

The view was spectacular, worth the price of admission. The bathroom was indeed small, but the shower pressure was amazing. And again, not there for a square dance and I don't need Doug in there with me when I'm pooping or showering. It was super fine. 

Flat screen TV with great sound but the on demand streaming was fucked up thanks to Spectrum Internet. Still, we got to watch Sunday night football comfortably, in our underpants with a beer. The ironing board that didn't scream at us when we opened it which is always something that brings me joy. 

My only complaints were the elevators took forever and a day, we had to run the air conditioner because the heat was on and there is no way to control the temperature in the room. My little environmentalist heart felt horrible about doing that. We could open the windows but of course, noise! It's New York City, baby! right? Fire trucks, ambulances, all kinds of sirens all night. Thankfully I use sleep aid chewables and was able to fall asleep very easily. And we never made it to the hotel bar, which looked really cute.

So Monday, after breakfast, we headed back to the room and chilled out, checkout was at 11 and our train was at 12:10 so timing wise, there was no rush. We walked back over to old 50th and 8th, got the E train, and Penn Station was two stops away. 

I had suggested to Doug that we walk from Penn to the Hotel either direction and he told me I was crazy, but really we could have done it if he wasn't using a roller bag. The wheels on his bag are failing, so he needs to pick himself up a new one anyway (the one I stole from my mom last year doesn't wheel good either). City sidewalks are no friends to wheelie bags. I watched so many people struggle with theirs. 

I used my red backpack, which itself is due for retirement, to be honest. It was Geoff's school bag back in Middle School, and the chest strap busted years ago. I packed about 20 pounds of stuff into this bag, and wearing it around to the train, from the train to the subway, subway to the hotel, it was all no problem at all. Little red backpack, you've lived quite the life since about 2010. 

We got to Penn Station really early, and grabbed coffee, sat by the Food Court. It was hard to hear the loudspeakers inside the "terminal" because it was so horribly echoey but in the food court it was audible. Our train was right on time, they announced us 10 minutes or so out from departure so we got in line. I was amazed at the amount of humans that were on line, and how there were still seats available together for us, even though this train had originated in Boston. 

So much better than driving. So much. Doug said he'd like to do this again. 

Next time, we'll stay in Brooklyn though. There was so much he had his eyes on, and the subway gets you there easily from Times Square but. Let's stay in Brooklyn.

We got to DC and I was hungry so we went to Pizzeria Uno in Union Station in DC. It wasn't as good as I'd remembered the pizza being (it's been years since we've gone to one) and the service sucked. I would have had a second beer if the dude came back around at some point... but no. Houdini just came back to ask us, upon seeing all our plates and glasses empty, if we would like anything else. No, just the check, sir. 

We were home by 5. 

Digits below this little dog who made me nervous in Brooklyn. Be safe, little buddy! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Walk from Hotel to subway was solid 25 min. 10,400+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 162
n/a midday reading (on the train)
10:30pm: 177

food:
coffee/water
9:30am: everything bagel w/scallion cream cheese
11am: Metformin
4pm: caesar salad, pizzaria Uno "Numero Uno" w/veggies, sausage, pepperoni; beer
6pm: metformin+jardiance 

"IT'S NEW YORK CITY, BABYYYYYYYYY!!"

(Written Tuesday, backdated to Sunday) 

One of the things I love about walking around NYC is the artwork. Neither of us are big fans of paid-for public art. Big sculptures that just block your view with some alleged beauty or significance, but they're really just dumb looking wastes of space. NYC seems to have better luck with these than DC or Baltimore or Boston. 

But my favorite things are the random things you see when you're out and about in the city. 

 

Sometimes you just say "what the hell is that supposed to mean," and still like looking at it. And then you move on. 

Sunday morning/ish we went back out for bagels to the same place. Doug changed up his game, but I stayed with everything & scallion, and added in turkey. I knew I'd need some protein. And it was closer to lunchtime, so. Turkey. 

Our friends Chris & Chrissy were meeting up with us "around lunchtime." They live in the Scranton area, so they drove down to NJ and took the ferry across to 12th and 39th. There's a shuttle bus that takes you to Times Square only they accidentally went the wrong direction and ended up in South Manhattan, so, shuttle bus back north. Doug and I walked around Times Square and soaked in some sights, and smells. 

We wore the clothes that we figured we'd be wearing to the 2pm show, even though Doug thought we'd want to come back and change. I thought that would be weird to meet up with C&C and then come back and get dressed. C&C let us know they'd made it to 7th and 50th, right north of where we were hanging out on Times Square so they got a table to eat lunch and we walked up to join them. 

I was a little nervous about Chris and Doug, because current events issues can get testy with the two of them. But they didn't stray into politics. They haven't seen each other in forever and ever. And it was like they saw each other a couple months ago. There was a lot of laughing. Chrissy and I also fell right into talking like we also had just seen each other. 

It felt like old hat and was very comfortable. 

The purpose of us getting together was for us to see the show Swept Away together. I wanted to see it for my birthday and happened to be chatting with Chrissy when she asked if we were going to see it. I clued her in and told her I'd love to see them. So she also got tickets. She had given me two tickets to see this back in January when her dad got sick, and I took Sara. Entry & review here if you want to go back and read it. 

We were waiting for Linda and Ronnie to join us, and they didn't make it into town for lunch. They barely made it to the show on time. Doug left their tickets at Will Call, so we went ahead and got seated. 

Lin explained what happened. They were late, naturally, but like really late. She was absolutely freaking out at him because of his driving. White knuckles and steam coming out of her ears. He thought it was hilarious and kept laughing saying "It's New York City, Baby!" Just relax!!! This did not make her relax.

Ronnie dropped Linda off and went to find a place to park. She came to sit with us after the show had started, but he never joined us. Linda was so angry at him - she figured he just gave up trying to find a spot and found a place in Brooklyn, and a bar. 

At the end of the show, we saw he was actually sitting on the other side of me. There was a woman in between us, and when he sat, I thought it was her person. He thought she was my friend Chrissy or something. So he didn't say anything. His seat next to Linda sat vacant. 

So he was there with us, we just didn't see him. Ha. He said he basically came upstairs right after she must have because he whipped around the block and there was a parking garage right there so he wasn't more late than she was.  

And we had no idea he was there. 

If you go back and read my entry from January, it's the same principal cast. They are so good together. And seeing this again was such a treat. I knew exactly what was going to happen. Chrissy was shocked because she didn't see it coming. Chris said "oh yeah, I knew we were in trouble." 

We had a huge discussion at the end out in the street, and made our way to the restaurant Doug had picked for dinner. It was two blocks west and two blocks south, the perfect distance to walk and talk. 

Ronnie had told Chrissy and me to say "It's New York City, Baby!" to Linda so we did, and the look on her face when she turned around to us. Hilarious. 

Dinner was fantastic. Huge conversations, excellent food, margaritas, and even dessert. No one asked for a candle on my cheesecake and that was perfectly fine. 

Dinner over, C&C headed back to their ferry (7 blocks south, 2 blocks west) and we walked with Ronnie and Linda to their car. 

It was still early, but they needed to get home to the dogs, and I knew if we hit another bar, Lin and I would have kept going down the cocktail trail to ridiculousness. Destination Ridiculousness. It's New York City, Baby. 

Instead, after they left, Doug and I went for a walk. 

We went over to Broadway, back to the heart of Times Square where the night vibe is a totally different animal. Then, we walked South to 39th where Times Square basically ends. There isn't much after that until you get to the Madison Square Garden area six blocks further. So, over to 8th. Back up to 48th where our hotel was. 

Solid. That was a non-stop hour of walking, with me leaning against things every once in a while while he looked at stuff, and pondering "okay, can I get him to step into this Irish Saloon just so I can put my ass in a seat for a while." 

I gave him permission to just keep walking if he wanted but he wanted to be with me and go back to the hotel.  It wasn't the Camino de Santiago but ... it was my camino. Hell Friday, Saturday and Sunday so far were more steps than I'd done since we were in Las Vegas. And a lot less broiling hot. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. several walks ranging from 12 min to 25 min, one big walk of 59min. 13,600+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 164
n/a midday reading
9pm: 240 (see dinner and timing of medication)

food:
coffee/water
times approximate
11:30am: everything bagel w/turkey and scallion cream cheese; metformin
5pm: all sorts of Mexican food. Guacamole bar with several dips and chips; 2 chicken enchiladas with a gorgeous Avocado flower on top. Margaritas, espresso martini, slice of cheesecake
8pm: metformin+jardiance

Saturday Bagels Pizza Beer

(Posted on Tuesday but Backdated to the actual day these things happened). 

Saturday morning after weak game hotel coffee, we had an agenda to get to for the day, so we headed out to get coffee and ... bagels. Had to get some NY bagels. 

Last time I got NY bagels with my sister, the kid behind the counter put this tiny swipe of cream cheese on. These guys at Hudson Bagel (they do not have an official webpage, just reviews on yelp and google) do not play. I think I got a container's worth of scallion cream cheese. I asked for scallion onion cream cheese because sometimes that's a thing, and they put razor thin slices of red onion on the bagel. 

Not complaining, it was delicious, but for sure I was glad I didn't leave the breath mints on the table at home. 

After we destroyed our bagels, we took our coffees and wandered over to a park with a playground on 10th St. Pickleball, kids on the play equipment, people enjoying coffee (like us!), the weather was amazing, beautiful, and we enjoyed the sit. This is November, friends. I didn't think we'd get anything like this in November. Climate change or just a really good year for late fall niceness?

Doug walked us over to the Hudson where the Intrepid Museum is, to look at it but not to go there. Because we had plans big plans and it was time to get going. 

It was cool, super huge and impressive. We'll come see you another time, friend.

Time to get the subway. But where's it hiding?

Thankfully Doug has been using this MTA App to plan our journeys, as I'm completely overwhelmed by the NYC Subway system. All the time. 

He got us where we needed to be very easily,  City Reliquary in Williamsburg. It was really cool, lots of NYC ephemera, and a special exhibit on the Statue of Liberty in tattoos. We sat in the courtyard, which looks like it could be the next big fun project for them, one piece of neon sign from the 90s made me think it could be the next Neon Museum like the one we went to in Vegas. 

After reliquarying, we headed to Grimm Artisinal Ales in East Williamsburg. 

It was a packed house, several parties happening all at once. Outside was our only option, which was nice when the sun was on us, not so nice after it turned to the top of the building and out of sight. The beers were delightful. Beautiful sours and bubbly hefeweisse. And no pictures of the pizza, because it was inhaled. We'll be back here again one day. 

Nex stop was Evil Twin Brewing in Ridgewood. It has kind of a greenhouse building which was very dark, and we had two beers and felt beat. There were several other breweries Doug wanted us to go to, but there we were. Absolutely exhausted. Time to go! Ride that Subway back from Brooklyn to NYC, walk the 3 or so blocks, sigh heavily.

Back at the hotel, we rested a bit and then went on another walk about on 9th. We found a little Thai restaurant called Pure Thai, and a giant bowl of noodle soup for each of us. I didn't take pictures of the soup, and regret not getting Pad Thai, but I already knew my blood sugar was probably high from all the carbs of the day. Still. We did a ton of walking, so I felt that was a good balance.

I slept like I was dead. 

Digits for Saturday below this cute little flower from the Thai restaurant. 

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. several, several walks. So many walks I think my fitbit registered 5 walks of varying lengths. 17,500+ by bedtime 

blood glucose:

9am: 161
5pm: 258 (pizza, beer, took Metformin+Jardiance at about 4:30)
11pm: 210

food:
coffee/water
10am: everything bagel w/cream cheese
11am: metformin
5pm-ish lost track of time but. 3 beers, slices of pizza at Grimm Brewing
2 more beers at Evil Twin
6:45pm: metformin+jardiance
9pm: bowl of thai soup w/ beef, bok choi, noodles (gave a lot of noodles to doug) 2 shrimp dumplings, some Duck Larb 

Amtrak to NYC, and Day 1

Geoff dropped us off at the metro at 11:30am, I forget sometimes how fast it takes to get downtown so we were there with plenty of time to kill. And I've said it before, I kind of can't believe we live this close to these things.

Doug had never taken Amtrak, so he was kind of impressed, the ride was smooth, seats comfy. And we were in NYC in less than 4 hours. I haven't been to Penn Station since 2017 I think, and Doug hasn't been since college. Let's just say they have done an amazing job cleaning it up. My last visit, everything was drywall, pressboard, construction lighting with exposed bulbs strung together providing very little actual light, weird pathways to cattle herd people through construction. Now it looks like a major city transportation center. 

Doug got a Metro card (I bought one a couple weeks back) and we made our way up to 50th St, walked to our hotel, with Doug dragging his wheelie suitcase and me with my 20 pound backpack. 

The hotel is pretty nice, Doug wins points for picking this one. We're on the 16th floor, facing south with Times Square to our East and Hell's Kitchen to the west. Took this picture through the glass and it's funny to see the fuzzy lights and the what looks like ominous clouds!

We dumped our stuff off, and headed out to find something to eat. Initially, Doug wanted to go to Brooklyn to a couple breweries and to a Turkish restaurant he'd scoped out, but ... we're here, in Manhattan, it's dinner time, and it'll take at least a half hour to get to where he was thinking. And he had his second thoughts too, so Brooklyn for Saturday!

I really needed a snack. I didn't eat before leaving because I didn't want to have to use the bathroom on the train, iykyk. So I was pretty hungry once we got here. 

There is pizza every three feet here. Thank God. 9th avenue has a ton of good restaurants, and I thought we were going. 

I've had better pizza, but compared to DC area pizza, this was the best pizza I've had in years. It was funny, Geoff texted me while we were waiting for our slices, and asked if we'd picked a place for dinner. "I hear the pizza is pretty good over there," which I'm actually not sure if he was being sarcastic or if he was being genuinely sweet and naive? Hard to tell if you're not sitting with him and can see his face. So I took a picture and sent it to him. 

We walked up and down 9th avenue, "Hell's Kitchen" as it is known. Much less helly than when I remembered being here in the past. We ended up standing in front of a Turkish restaurant, and while we were looking things over, the hostess came out to encourage us to come in. 

We weren't quite sold on this place, but, she was open and inviting and kind. And we needed a meal. 

And it was an excellent meal. Attentive service, explaining how "no, this is Turkish we do it very different than Greek" but really, those are ... falafel and grape leaves. I mean. Okay. We even had dessert because she brought over the items to show them to us, and I was confused, but. Yeah. Dessert. And there were no regrets. 

Back to the hotel, exhausted. We slept with the shades up, which we never do, because the view was just so cool.

I'll do a separate post for Saturday rather than just piling on here. But have some pictures. 

Digits below. Check those steps out, baby.

Friday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 4 measurable walks: 9 min/.4 miles, 31 min /(no mileage tracked but 1820 steps), 17 min /.58 miles, 13 min/.45 miles; 1400+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 151
5pm: 171
9:30pm: 280
2am: 160 

food:
coffee/water
11am: several slices of turkey
5:30pm: metformin (forgot to take before leaving the house) 1 slice of pizza
7pm: Turkish food: houlma, falafel, a chicken dish with grilled chunks of chicken on a spinach bed w/yogurt and rice; some sort of almond flan like thing, some sort of wheat wrapped pistachio thing, a piece of turkish delight, tea; 2 turkish pilsners
9pm: Metformin+Jardiance

Brooklyn, Brooklyn Take Me In...

 We aren't staying in Brooklyn but I do believe tonight and tomorrow we are doing stuff in Brooklyn. Tonight, breweries. Tomorrow Doug wants to go the City Reliquary to see an exhibit. Okay. 

Let's go. 

The title is an homage to Avett Brothers, and while that song isn't in the musical we're seeing this weekend, I think it every time I go into NYC or Brooklyn. Every time. 

I don't think there is going to be an entry tonight, I doubt it. So this is just a note to say more to come. More to come. 

Have a nice day, the three regular people who read this.

I'll be there in a minute

The look my dog is giving me right now because I'm not curled up on my right side so she can burrow into the backs of my thighs and stick her snoot in my butt.... It's bedtime, lady. 

Yes, I know. I'll be there in a minute, Toffee.

Not much to report today, I caught up on all the email, updated the spreadsheet, ate dinner, went back to more email and more need to update the spreadsheet. 

While I am out of office I know people on my team are going to poke around in this spreadsheet, and sometimes it is helpful, sometimes I just want to say "get out of my spreadsheet!" 

Our neighbor came over this afternoon, she is going to be helping with Toffee while we are out of town and Geoff is at work. I love her. I love her dog. We had a jacket that Phineas came to us with, it was hanging on a hook in the closet and every day I looked at it and kind of missed him. It is way too small for Toffee, so I gave it to my neighbor for her dog. 

So cute. So stinking cute.

Digits today are kinda lame. I was going to go to the gym in the middle of the afternoon after my neighbor came by and I remembered I had a 4:30 meeting. So I didn't go anywhere - and then the guy canceled our meeting at 4:15. Had I known, I would have gone to the gym at 3. 

Sigh. Anyway. I'll be making up for it over the next couple days. It's gonna be busy! It won't be walking the Camino de Santiago but. I bet it'll be more than I've walked since Vegas.

Digits below this cute picture of Meg Doggie. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Pouring rain today, no walk outside. 5k steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8am: 177
4:15pm: 151
10pm: 159

food:
coffee/water
noon: 3 egg omelet fail. It fell apart but was still tasty. Spinach, mushrooms, goat cheese. 2 small jimmy dean sausage patties. 
12:30pm: Metformin 
6:30pm: 2 italian sausages, w/sauce and mozz. 
7pm: metformin+jardiance
8pm: 2 weird egg roll things Geoff got at Aldi. do not recommend
red wine+ginger ale