The Tomato Gift

Today, Doug was reluctant to take a trip up to the house with stuff because it is Football Season and ... Football. But he saw the smartness in it, and we packed up stuff. He did the pantry, I did the china plates and fancy glassware. We took things that were on hangers in the closets, laid all that on top of the boxes, and we took off.

Initially Geoff had said he was coming with us, but he opted to study and keep the dog. We appreciated that because as much as we want her to come see her new house and play in her new yard, we needed every inch of space in the car. Next trip. 

We unloaded boxes, and Doug wanted to unpack things but I told him no, the kitchen needed to be clean. The cabinets, the shelves, everything - it all needs to be cleaned. He thought I was being fussy. 

"Broom clean means they sweep they floor, they don't clean everything." I said. The place isn't gross, but there is something psychological to me about putting my things into cabinets, and making sure they are all tidy. He agreed. 

He brought the hose with us, and watered all our plants, the indoor and outdoor ones. Everything needed a good soaking. It is warm enough out that I'm not concerned about the house plants, so they are spending another night in the carport. That, and there isn't really anywhere for them to go yet. 

We surveyed the yard and garden, all of it was neglected a bit over the last month or so. It needs weeding, and we'll get into that I'm sure. 

There was a cherry tomato plant which had been ripped up at the roots and chucked into the way back of the yard at the tree line. Doug thought this was a criminal prosecutable act. I agreed, and decided to salvage all the tomatoes that were still attached.  

There was another cherry tomato vine growing on the side of the house, so I harvested all the ripe ones. There are plenty of little green ones that will keep on going, and I look forward to picking them off in the coming weeks. 

Also, by the back gate there is a zinnia growing with gorgeous blooms all over it. The colors are so rich and vibrant. Two of them we busted after getting jacked by the gate, so I cut them off and came inside. The only thing I unpacked was a bud vase that I knew exactly where it was. 

Once we had done everything that we could short of going to the store and buying stuff to clean with that we have plenty of here at this house and I can bring up there tomorrow, we decided it was time to eat. Off to the Broad Axe, which Doug found online, and the reviews and comments were quite favorable. 

Great choice. We had the best buffalo wings I've had in forever. And my burger was perfect. Doug got the fish and chips, and it was catfish - and it was perfectly done. Their draft beer selection is limited, but, they had stuff I've never had so it was nice. The staff was lovely, friendly, and the place was hopping but not over crowded. For a Sunday night out, it was a great choice. We'll be back!

Home by 9pm. Perfect trip. 

Tomorrow, up again to clean. I think I'll go solo, and Doug can get more done around here. 

More flowers for your entertainment. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. missed 11am because I was doing dishes and lost track of time. 10 min. pokemon walk for .46 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 118
xpm: x
10:45pm: 130

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance+phentermine
10:45am: blueberry pancakes w/a little syrup
11:45am: met+glip
5pm: a lot of cherry tomatoes
6:45pm: buffalo wings; bacon bleu burger, a little cole slaw but it wasn't tasty; 3 beers
9pm: met+glip

I like to move it move it

I don't really like to move it move it. In fact I want to do nothing. But there is so much to do. 

We both were up early, Doug worked on some more things downstairs, and I was up here cleaning off the glass collectibles and the not-fragiles as well. Boxing, wrapping, stacking. Doug came up and started to put things in the car and Geoff helped. 

I opted to stay here and pack more, clean more. I didn't do as much as I wanted but did get a nice chat with Linda in the midst of things. Still. Things were done. 

The boys got home after 6, they had dinner but I did not so I made bacon for a salad and that hit the spot. 

Not much else to update. Doug did take Geoff to the brewery he hadn't been to yet and he enjoyed it a lot. 

Tomorrow? More of the same but I think I have to go up. And we should bring Toffee so she can see the place. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 20 min/1 mile indoor walk and a lot of steps. 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 113
5:30pm: 93
10pm: 92

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: pb& low sugar j on 647 bread
2:30pm: met+glip
3pm: small bowl of left over tuna casserole
red wine & ginger ale
7:30pm: BLT salad with goat cheese crumbles
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
9pm: met+glip

Closing

Well we did it. We closed on the house. 

I woke up very early, made coffee, played my games. We knew we needed to be in the car by 10:45 to get to the walk through. We took a car load of plant,s and some plastic totes of doohickeys up with us. 

(We left the plants in the carport and now I regret that. I hope it doesn't get cold tonight and the poor things suffer. My houseplant babies have never spent the night outside).

The walk through went well. The rooms all need a good painting, that'll happen. We told our buyers broker about the future upstairs bathroom and she said hell yeah. 

The sellers left the party lights in the basement office area and on the back porch. Excellent. They took the built-in shelves in the basement living area - I thought for sure those would stay. But unless you ask, you don't know what is going to stay and covey, or go. I should have asked. 

We'll put bookshelves against the wall. Geoff will appreciate that. 

After the closing, we went to the electric department to switch the account over into our name. It went smoothly. 

Our buyer's broker gave us a gift card to a local restaurant so we went straight there. We were super hungry. 

Celebration beers... Delirium Tremens isn't often on draft so this was a treat. 

Our waitress was adorable. Very funny. We put in our first order for beers and our dinners/lunch/whatever. We placed our second round and it seemed to take a long time to get to us. When she brought it over, she said, "I delayed delivery on this on purpose to get you in on the happy hour deal at 3pm." She mentioned for dessert there was carrot cake, so we decided we'd have that. 

Doug told her "it's someone's very favorite thing," and I smiled. I told her it was our wedding cake and she thought that was sweet. "But this isn't our anniversary or anything, but it is a special day." 

She came over to tell us there was a problem. "There is only one piece of carrot cake, and it is hers," she gestures to me while looking at Doug. He thought about something else and I offered to share with him and asked for two spoons. "Are you sure you wanna do that?" she asked, "It's your favorite." 

Yes. because it is good to share. And we did. I gave her a very huge cash tip, she came over while Doug was in the bathroom, and thanked me profusely, and gave me a cute little drawing. 

We got home, and our neighbor J and the dog were standing at our gate. Meg was looking for Toffee, she wasn't outside but Meg was still looking. We asked if she wanted us to get Toffee for a quick romp and she said yes. 

The dogs went bananas together and J and I talked about how this was going to be so missed by both beasties. And I'm going to miss time with J. 

She had to go, they were having company and she wanted to clean up. I went inside and there was a giant box waiting. C had shipped cheesesteaks from Goldbelly. Doug napped, I made them. And they were the perfect thing to have, since we didn't have much else. 

Tomorrow, more work. Taking Geoff up to see the house for the first time. And Toffee so she can see her new yard. 

Here's the cute drawing from the waitress. It was. It was a great day.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  No exercise, 7k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 136
6pm: 105
10pm: 108

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
10:30am: protein bar
3pm: spinach & strawberry salad w/ grilled chicken. 2 beers. Met+glip; carrot cake
7pm: a philly cheesesteak from Joe's via Goldbelly (thank you C) 
8:30pm: met+glip
2 more beers

To Be A Panda

I took a nap this afternoon and I rarely do. My head hurt and between the state of the universe and the nation, and the kind of overwhelm of everything with work and life, I just didn't want to do anything. 

No boxes packed, hardly any work done. No walk. That's okay. Some days you feel this way and take it easy. 

Our closing is 1pm tomorrow, walk through is at noon. We are planning on bringing stuff up to the house with us, and we have to go to the electric company in person to set up the electric service. It's wild in this the year of our Lord 2025 that one cannot submit an application online, or call a phone number. We have to go in person. They are open until 4pm. 

So tomorrow's the big day. Your girl needs some more sleep. I'll probably wake up at 3 am and be awake, again. Maybe that's when I'll pack some boxes. 

At work today, my work bestie reminded me of the Smithsonian Zoo Panda Cam, and there was a panda way high up in a tree so we worried for it. Why are you up so high! What if you fall! It seemed content, and it took a nap. Another panda was in the panda house just lounging around. I told her, Oh, to be this panda. 

Indeed. Oh to be this panda.

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. No walk. 4500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 130
4:30pm: 109
11pm: 186

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: 2 good yogurt+granola bar
1pm: met+glip
4:30pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
6pm: 2 hotdogs with buns, and some coleslaw, some macaroni salad, some chickpea salad
white wine
8pm: peaches & vanilla ice cream
9:30pm: met+glip

Baby's First Wire Transfer

Today I went and did something I've never done before not even once in my life. I did a wire transfer. I was very anxious about it, and when I got there, there were some concerns about ME that they had. I was not the primary on the account, Doug is. Does Doug know I'm doing this.

I pointed at the documentation from the title company that says both of our names, and that seemed to make them happy. I was concerned they'd want Doug to come in and do this. But they ended up satisfied.

Then, when we moved here none of us updated our licenses. We didn't order new checks. So our old house number appears on my personal check and my license (my passport card still has my Massachusetts address) but my address in their system is this house. Oh no. Discrepancy! Discussions! 

Eventually, they were okay with it. And the wire transfer was set up. We went over every detail. I had called to get the absolute final closing cost amount from the Title company this morning, and all pieces fell into place. 

I knew I had to grab milk from the market, and I wanted to get a side dish to go with Geoff's meat thing he's making for dinner (he never plans a side dish. Which is hilarious to me). And my gym is next door to the market. 

So I went to the gym for the first time since June. Really. That long. 

My plan was to give myself 25 -30 min as a quiet treat away from the computer and boxes and everything, and then grab what I needed at the market. I was trotting along to favorites on the playlist and felt something "ping" in my left knee. 

Ouch. Stop it. Oh Fuck OUCH! 

I stopped the treadmill right before my knee kind of gave out on me. I took that as a 10 minute recordable walk, and left. With a very painful knee. 

Eventually it stopped hurting, I was in the market, and pushing the cart around and it stopped screaming at me. But yeah. Ouch. Bastard. Why. 

And I had my notifications/alerts off for my work tools, I turned them on and all hell had broken loose with one of my products but people knew I was out of office until 1pm at least, and they were handling it. I messaged the team to say I was on my way home, asked for someone to draft an alert for me to review and send when I got back to my computer. 

I told my boss "this is what happens when I leave the house. This is why I work while I'm on vacation. I'm the magic that holds the sky up from the ground, or something..." Jokingly of course.

Crisis was resolved quickly. What a weird couple things to have happen and get me back to the house. 

Got email and text confirmation this afternoon the wire was received. They've got all my money. Until we start making more money.... 

I tried another walk inside the house and again, jacked knee after a couple minutes so I stopped. Making an appointment with my doctor for next week. Earliest I can see her is Wednesday, the day after moving day. Guess she's not in on Monday. 

I didn't push it with steps today. Wanted to try another walk, but want to see what is going on tomorrow. Back to the boxes. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Gym, 10 min. quick walk/.58 mi. Short indoor walk, 7 min/.3 mi. 7500+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 111
4:15pm: 121
11pm: 156

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: english muffin w/pb & bonnie maman's apricot
2pm: met+glip
4:15pm: some hummus & pita chips
6:30pm: marinated steak w/mashed red bliss potatoes
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
9:30pm: met+glip
white wine

Three Sleeps

This morning Doug was very excited and happy. "Three sleeps until we close on the house!" Yes. Three sleeps! 

Yay.

I mean, Yay!

I am a little overwhelmed, and not emotionally into it right now because there is so much to do. Truth be told, I won't be all the way excited until we're moved fully, and everything is settled with the current property manager. He's kind of ghosted me, I reached out earlier today and no reply. Maybe he's away on vacation? not sure. 

Doug has been attending a conference online, yesterday, today, and tomorrow morning. He's been in the guest room rather than downstairs, and kind of in my space. I didn't have any meetings until 1pm today so I did more packing, organizing. Got some bookshelves cleaned off, used the 3 liquor boxes. 

I went to the Extra Space storage place and bought boxes. Tomorrow, the fragile glasses (leaving out one wine glass for each of us...) and the kitchen stuff that we probably won't need to use. Like, the roasting pan. All the muffin tins. That kind of thing. 

Also, tomorrow morning, I'm going to our bank to set up the wire transfer, since Doug is conferencing. The bank is near my gym. Maybe I'll stop in and visit, walk on ye olde treadmill. Look into canceling my membership. Sadly. I like the kids who work there. They are super nice. 

I took two walks. One was a decent 26 min that I could have pushed to a half hour. The playlist was doing good things for me. Groove is in the Heart is a banger. And I didn't take Toffee with me, so I could do a good pace. I came home, rested a bit, and got her harness on and took her around 2 blocks. It worked out just right for the step count

Anyway - another busy day come and gone. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 walks. One solo after dinner, 26 min/1.29 mi; one with toffee13 min/.62 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 110
4:30pm: 139
10:30pm: 131

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: english muffin w/ pb & bonnie maman's apricot preserves
2pm: met+glip
3pm: 2 pieces of left over grilled chicken strips w/the last of the macaroni salad
4:30pm: atkins protein bar
6pm: bowl of rotini w/meat sauce
white wine
9:45pm: met+glip

The Pedicure

I left the house yesterday with the only mission being "get some boxes." 

I decided that I also wanted/needed a pedicure. I think I had one in July, and Linda and I were supposed to have a sisters' date while we were in Maine, but that didn't happen. Sadly.

Fast forward yet another month, and man. My toes were not summer happy. "Ratchet" would be how I'd describe them. 

I had trimmed my toenails, so don't be gross with your thinking that I had some talons or some shit. Nope. They weren't a mile long. They looked shitty. The polish had grown off most of the toes, except the big ones. Thankfully it was a light grey/silver formerly sparkly polish. I don't think other people were looking at my feet saying "Eww." But I sure was. 

I headed over to the mall and walked into the basement corridor where the salon was. 

Only, they weren't. 

The salon was gone, as was each of the other four stores in that little corridor, and the not quite any good Chinese restaurant. Hmmmm. Weird? No sign saying they'd moved or relocated. 

The internet is in my pocket every day, so I looked them up. Google said they were open, their website didn't indicate anything negative. So I called up. 

The girl said they'd been moved by the mall, and she could get me in for 4pm. "But before you come, call me, I'll meet you." 

I went to the liquor store for the boxes. I went and had my bloodwork done.

Back to the mall. I parked, went in, and called the girl. She had told me what doors to come in, and found me quickly. 

She took me to what looked like doctors offices with a sign that said "My Salon: Suite" in a part of the mall I'd not seen before. 

Each room was for a hairdresser, and her little nail salon had been moved into a series of these one seater stalls. 

"What's up with this?" I asked her. 

"Oh. The mall got bought, and they're moving things around. We're getting a nice new space upstairs and our shop and the others in that section are all closed. So. We're waiting. And they put us here. Until maybe Halloween, we hope it will get finished sooner." 

Oh okay. 

Her manicure technician was working on an elderly gentleman's hands. "That's right," she said in a cute fast voice, "We roll with it. We make do and we get through. It is all we can do. We got this." 

She was super cute and I told her "that's right. It's what we do. And I'm here for it." My pedicure girl, the woman who answered the phone (and I think she is the owner too) and the manicurist all cheered. The elderly gentleman laughed. 

They don't even have the pedicure chairs hooked up to a water supply. My technician had to fill a bowl and dump water into a plastic container that my feet were in. So I didn't get the jacuzzi with the LED lites all up on my feets. 

She did good by doing an extra nice foot rub. 

All told, I'm happy to support a small business that is doing the best they can. And my toes look very un-ratchet, I must say. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. walk 23 min/1.09 mi. Inside walk, 15 min/.66 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 124
4:45pm: 100
9:45pm: 109

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: BLT salad (only with spinach not lettuce, so... BST?) 
2pm: met+glip
6:00pm: nachos, cheese, guac, ground beef
white wine
9:30pm: met+glip

Nary a Box was Packed

Today was the day for a couple egg mcmuffins at home, with sausage. Doug recently bought us a new toaster, with 4 slots, and that makes a world of difference for someone looking to have more than one mcmuffin at a time. 

After we'd eaten, Doug suggested a wallk. "I'd like to take a long-ish walk and be home in time for kick-off. Do you want to come?" Aaah yes, it is football season.

It wasn't roasting hot out - just kind of warm with a nice breeze. I wondered what he meant by a "long-ish" walk. 

I signed up to find out. Happy I did. Before we started the big walk, we were looking at how the morning glories have started to climb up the trees, and there is a super pretty white flowery thing in the yard this year that we have never had. Google lens told me it is sweet autumn clematis, and it is an invasive species native to southeast asia. Hmmmm. Well, the morning glories and the clematis are intertwining and growing up a tree. And it looks super cool. 

Crossing the street, there is a house that has been for rent, and the former inhabitants left the garden in a wild state. The tenants before them were fastidious and careful gardeners, but these folks just let everything that was cultivated grow back volunteers, and now there are tomatoes and melons growing on the fence. 

A few of the melons had fallen off  and were shattered on the ground inside the fence. They were covered in ants, chewed by animals, and will probably seed for more melons next year. 

My mother called while we were out so we paused at the gazebo in the park so I could call her back and see if it was an emergency. It was not. She was concerned I had not paid her lot rent, but I did. We were on the phone together when I did it on August 27th. She just didn't remember.

Continuing our walk, we had a good time. Several little free libraries along the way, and walked in through a neighborhood I'd never been to, which had some cool social trails that I'm sure the kids in the neighborhoods all use to get around. Neat area. 

There was a series of townhouses, all really nice and well established, some with some exceptionally beautiful decks in the back. And ... one had recently caught fire. 

Around here, townhouses are often listed as "single family homes" on Zillow even though townhouse has its own category for searching. These are not single family homes. But I digress. 

These are honestly places I never would want to live. The townhouse was gutted, and the two units on either side obviously suffered some major damage out front (and probably inside). Busted windows, ruined decks, melted siding. And it is such a drag. At least, if you have a single family home and your neighbor's home catches on fire, you stand a decent chance of your place not getting torched as well. 

Which is why I get mad at zillow. There are so many places here that are townhomes, so so many. Don't pollute my searches with your not-a-house option. 

Anyway. I won't have to search Zillow too much going forward in this life, me thinks, me hopes. 

We walked past a tree that down low was absolutely looking like it should be cut down. Great big open gaping screaming holes, but, the entire top, the canopy, was gorgeous and lush. It looked like it was ready to talk to us. 

Doug looked at a lot of trees in front yards talking about what he wants to buy and plant out front. We have two giant empty squares up front and he'd like a pair of matching trees, like two Japanese Maples. I want an area for a wildflower garden. 

One of the big issues with our new house is a fully well established Black Walnut tree in the backyard. 

Black Walnut trees are not good neighbors - they kill gardens thanks to a toxic chemical they put out called juglone, you can't plant things too close to them, it just won't work. 

You can plant certain things if you're educated about it. Yes to forsythia, no to lilacs. And up in the front of the house, things are far enough away that it should not be a problem not matter what we plant. 

I'll let him determine things, but I think I'm going to get my way with raised garden beds because we'll not want to fight with juglone and garden death. 

The long-ish walk was leisurely and nice, and over two miles. Hell yeah. Way to start the day. 

Football was consumed and I decided at 3pm to go ahead and get some boxes.  

I went to the county liquor store, bought beer and vinho verde to show I was a legit consumer of the products and not just a box grubber. They gave me 3 boxes. I was disappointed. Then, oh yes - I remembered to get my bloodwork done. 

There was also a pedicure but that's a story, perhaps tomorrow. 

I marinated some chicken breasts, grilled them, we had a couple different side salad things like pasta salad, macaroni salad, and I'd picked up this cute chickpea mix at Aldi the other day. A perfect summer meal. 

More football. 

Doug cut up some peaches and soaked them in some booze and sugar. We had that over vanilla ice cream. I only wanted a little but he served me up a giant assed bowl like I don't have type 2 diabetes. 

I ate it. and it was delightful 

Anyway. A big full fun day was had. And my toes look great. Digits! Below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  big walk. 50 min/2.23 miles; 12k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

9am: 134
5:30pm: 109
10pm: 167

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
10:30am: egg mcmuffin at home 
2pm: met+glip
3:30pm: 2 reeses pb cups 
6:45pm: chicken breast strips grilled, a scoop of Pasta salad, macaroni salad, and chickpea salad on the side
8:30pm: peaches & vanilla ice cream. met+glip
vinho verde

No Hoarding

As my sister and I say, "Oh my Lord-a-rama." 

I went to bed last night, exhausted but unable to fall asleep. I fell asleep and woke up over and over, pretty much every hour. Restless legs, heartburn, pain in my hip. 

I went to the guest room and put on a podcast at 4am. Geoff came upstairs at 5:15 and was getting his breakfast ready, brewing coffee. I'd fall back asleep and he'd come back upstairs. He used our bathroom, he turned the hallway light on to get a Q-tip. 

Awake, again. 

Pancakes. Oh he's making pancakes. They smell very nice. Silence, back to sleep. Oh he's back upstairs. 

I'm up now, I guess. 7am was a good time to get up. 

Doug and Toffee slept later, and Geoff left at 8:15 to walk to work. I tried to fall back asleep on the couch but that wasn't happening. I thought about going for a walk, since it is supposed to turn violently stormy this afternoon. Toffee woke up and I fed her and let her out and it is already 90 and humid so the walk idea got vetoed. 

Everyone around here in the DC area has been all crazy excited about summer being over because the temperature dropped into the 70s! The meteorologists are all pumpkin spice and sweaters. One of my neighbors was walking her dog while wearing a parka and mittens. It was 77 degrees. 

And everyone online was all "yay! it's cold and wonderful," and I said shut up - you'll jinx us. This is false fall and you know it. 

And here we are. Sweating balls and not wanting to be outside again. 

Doug got started before me today. We did our requisite coffee and phone shenanigans, and he was raring to go. I had gone through my drawers yesterday and had a big back of donate items, all pants that are size 20-22 that don't fit and God willing I'll never need again. I have a stack of pants that are 16 or 18, I want to try them on and see if the 18s are too big. 

When we moved from Massachusetts, Doug had thrown A LOT of things into giant plastic bags and they sat at the bottom of his closet. When we moved from house 1 to here, the bags came with. Now.

Now... 

I've asked him previously, "so you think maybe you can sort through these bags and like,,,, purge some things? You're not missing them, obviously, if you have not worn things in those bags since at least 2017." He would say "yeah yeah yeah" and the bags sat. 

Well. 

Bags are being purged and gone through. He put the speaker on and played Foreigner and then Steve Miller Band. It was funny to be out here in the living room and hear hi singing along. 

Doug mentioned to me that he had a fanciful idea of keeping socks that had holes in them for dusting. So he had a bag of holey socks. They are gone. He said he doesn't want to be like his aunt, thinking that he could use these things. I said all I need is one or two holey socks for dusting (and I have them ... currently in the bedroom) I don't need a whole full bag of them. 

I'm proud of him.

Our bedroom looks like something exploded in it. And this is a good thing. Tomorrow it will look better.

He found shoes that are too small, that are very nice. They were his dad's and his mother made him take them because they wear the same size, only these never fit him. So they've been in a box. Now they're going to the car with my size 20 pants to live a new life and help someone else out.

I reorganized some Christmas things that were in multiple boxes, and combined into one big box for lights and ornaments, and the cookie cutters and associated nonsense in another box. I tested several strings of lights, and pitched a whole bunch. I sat and I .... tested pens. Yes I did. 

I sat for 15 minutes and scribbled on a piece of paper to test a ton of pens that have been sitting in a cup for eternity. 

Half of them are dead and are now gone. The rest are in a box, and 2 pens are sitting out on the table by where I sit in case we need pens. 

And Geoff has pens. Pens are available. 

I ran the dishwasher this morning from last night's baking spree and Geoff's morning breakfast mess. And I pulled a bunch of things down from up top the cabinets where we keep roasting pans and all the muffin tins and the wok. It's all going through the dishwasher soon. 

We got some hellacious thunder storms, and Geoff texted saying he needed a ride home from work. I needed milk for coffee. We are out of good sized boxes, liquor boxes. Those are perfect. Several books, and I can lift them. Doug had taken a nap and I had not, so it was fair that he took the opportunity to go get Geoff from work, and the milk, and some wine, and some pasta salad to go with dinner. And I showered. And did steps in the house.

We started watching KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix. It is a movie, and I thought it was a series, so we stopped at a good point and will pick up the journey tomorrow. I think Doug is enjoying it, but he feels like the plot is going too slowly, there's a little too much singing, and not enough hunting of demons. Fair. 

It's still fun. 

Another day tomorrow, where boxes are procured. I'm hoping for more than 3 hours of sleep tonight. Fingers crossed and ... Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Indoor walk, 20 min/1.21 mi. Pokemon walk (and Toffee needed a little something once it cooled down and stopped raining). 10 min/.43 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 142
4:15pm: 94
10:30pm: 134

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine
10am: 2 blueberry oatmeal muffins
1pm: met+glip
3pm: atkins protein bar
5pm: some cashews
6:30pm: burnt ends BBQ (from Aldi) which had more sauce than meat. Would have been really good with mashed potatoes! Pasta Salad. White wine & ice cubes
9pm: met+glip

Drunk Baking Night

 So okay. 

It was a busy day. A slow day but a busy day. Things to do, stuff to stay on top of, I think I jumped in and helped a client with something that was not my responsibility to do or know but my two go to aces were out today. And I got to learn something too. Didn't get it fully fixed but the one thing I discovered the client didn't notice. And that can wait until Monday, right? 

Doug and I went for a walk. He was surprised I wanted to join him but I had to do a good walk. We went up around the elementary school, and then walked down our side street. 

We got to Toffee's Best Friend's house and she was right by her own back gate. She barked a few times and her doggie daddy came over to see what was up. He invited us in, and we had a short visit while they waited for their food delivery to arrive. 

Toffee and Meg had a riot playing and running, They did settle down and crash a bit, and I was able to catch a moment. 

I'm going to miss this. I'm sure Toffee will. Maybe someone else in our neighborhood will be just as awesome as the Megadeath Megalodon Megster. 

We got home, Geoff had put dinner in the oven because he got home while we were out. Thankful for that. And it was good too.

I drank some wine, and then decided I was going to bake. Doug bought a giant giant huge giant bag of frozen strawberries, so I need to liquidate these. Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins was Doug's request. We watched the football game (sorry, KC) and the muffins came out very nice. I even ate one. Yum. 

Tomorrow and Sunday, I think it is just me and boxes. I packed 5 today, went through my bureau and purged things that are way too big for me and put some things in a pile that I have to try on and see if those go too. Four boxes of books, and some small things from the bureau and desk. Bedroom is looking a lot emptier. I took the decorations (old advertisements from Saturday Evening Post that Doug's pappy framed) and packed those up. Progress.

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Toffee Walk, 24 min/1.02 miles (would have been longer except for stopping at Meg's); 10k+ steps before bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 124
4:45pm: 143
11pm: 91

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
12 noon: tuna melt quesadilla on 2 small low carb fajitas w/bacon and mexican cheddar cheese
2:30pm: met+glip
6:30pm: piece of chicken parm (about 1/2 a chicken breast)
white wine and zero sugar lemonade
9:30pm: met+glip
11pm: one small blueberry oatmeal muffin w/butter

Walking and Talking

Wednesday

My friend Amy in Arizona had messaged me the other day. Because of the time difference between us, it is sometimes good to give her a call later in the day here, during her commute home. I needed to take a walk yesterday and Doug didn't want to go, so I went by myself (sorry Toffee, can't play pokemon and walk you at the same time). 

I figured it was a good day to call her while I walked. We had a nice chat about everything from our move to her plans to move back to the east here. Her daughter works at Whole (paycheck) Foods, and so does her roommate, so between the three of them they're looking to land super close to one, and be close to family. Lancaster PA may be the place. 

She said she simply can't live through another Phoenix Summer. For people who claim climate change isn't real, she'd like a word. She's been there for 20+ years and it has only gotten more and more intense.  Not only is Phoenix hotter than ever, they somehow now have humidity... which she said is super weird. 

So it could be super nice to have such a good friend only two hours away. She had to drop off the call quickly to go pick her daughter up from somewhere, so I came back to the house. I thought about taking Toffee for a walk, because she was sad, but sat my ass down and drank wine instead. 

I knew I was short on the day's steps but close enough to make it worth it to go out. The weather was perfect. Why not.  Toffee, it's your lucky night. 

10:30pm I'm out there walking up the middle of the street (slightly drunk? not super drunk? but okay) going around the full block. I like the middle of the street because she'll walk without stopping every 2 inches to sniff or pee. We got good steps in together.

I got home and took her leash off and she went on her wilding run around the house. I stood on the walkway and waited for her.

She's not going to have this race track anymore, around the whole house like that. The new backyard is fully fenced. Maybe the run circle will be around the black walnut tree. No front fence, so she can't stand out in the front yard and meet all the friends walking down the street. It'll be new and different.

Everyone tells me how wonderful and sweet she is when they stop and say hi through the chain link. I'm going to miss that. 

Anyway. 

Thursday

Up early, again. 

A couple major victories today on the paperwork front for the mortgage. 

I got two boxes packed before even starting to work (yay me). 

I helped a client launch a site redesign that they worked so hard on, and I was so proud of them. 

I helped another one who is panicking about a section on their site and making it perfect. We've had several strategy calls over the past couple of weeks. Today was the day we were going to publish all the changes. 

She said to me though, "I had an epiphany. I wanted to have this done before I left for vacation tomorrow, but to be honest, I'd rather go on vacation and tackle this when I get back. It does not need to be done before I go. In fact, if we did it before I left, and I had doubts and misgivings, or if someone complained about it on our board of directors, I wouldn't be able to change it until I got back. So. Let's leave it. We'll pick it up after I'm back from vacation and you are back from moving. It'll all be fine." 

Refreshing! I love when common sense kicks in.

I wrote a letter of recommendation for a colleague at a client who was laid off from their job. I thought about how much I loved working with them and how much I'll miss them. Very bittersweet, but I want them to find a super kick ass job.

Doug arranged for the internet at the new house. I need to cancel the internet here. Geoff gave his letter of resignation to his boss, so he'll work through Sept 19th, and then he is done. 

Baby Steps. It's all falling into place. 

I did an inside walk while Doug was out with Toffee and dinner was cooking, After dinner, I needed pokemon so I ventured out. Jess called and we had a great catch up. They told me about the wedding they were in, all the details, all the hot goss. I noticed the bride's brother was in none of the pictures and I found that curious, so there was news about that. And they all stayed at a nice Air BnB and Dijon doggie got to be there for the weekend. And Jess met new people who were interesting and had weird stories, and lived to tell.

Even with a little drama, it all sounded like such a good time. I can't hardly imagine all my babies are there getting married and in their early 30s already. What is this even?

Football started tonight and while I was on the phone with Jess. I missed the entire first half and came out just in time for the game to go on rain delay because of thunder and lightning in the area in Philly. We turned the game off. Time to get ready for bed anyway. Here's a comic panel from strange planet that I love seeing this time of year. 

Digits, below. 

Wednesday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. After dinner walk chatting with my friend Amy in Phoenix, 17min/.83; toffee walk at 10:30 to finish up the steps, 12 min/.6 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 105
5pm: 120
11pm: 91

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance (out of phentermine)
11am: pizza cheese left over from Geoff's bagel
11:45am: left over green beans and piece of kielbasa
2pm: met+glip
6:30pm: 3 hotdogs, no buns, mixed with macaroni salad
white wine+diet ginger ale
8pm: 2 entenmann's chocolate frosted donuts (they were stuck together... so i ... took 2)

Thursday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks, inside while cooking dinner, 25 min/1.34 miles (actually jogging in the house at certain points); pokemon walk 31 min/.99 miles (the timing maybe off/wrong because I got home and didn't turn the walking monitor off. oops). 10k+ steps by bedtime. 

blood glucose:

8:30am: 133
4:45pm: 100
11pm: 143

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
12:30pm: atkins protein bar
2pm: met+glip
3pm: 3 celery stalks w/pb 
6:30pm: sausage tortelinni w/alfredo sauce
7:30pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
white wine+diet ginger ale
10pm: met+glip

Hit the Ground Running

Geoff left for work this morning at 7am. I heard the front door close and uttered "crap." I wanted to sit with him and have him write a letter of resignation to give his notice. On paper. Nicely. But he was gone. Not sure if he's going to tell his boss today or not, but if he didn't we'll take care of this tonight. 

Today is his long day, so he was lights off, in bed, 9pm Monday night. I didn't want to disturb him then so I let it ride. Should have caught him last night. 

Because I was awake and having internal brain conversations at 7am, I realized I had to pee. I somehow made it through the night without waking up. Good for me. 

Coffee, Toffee, and a phone game for a few minutes, I was working before 8am. It's kind of fun to be doing things before anyone else is online. We had a code push this morning, so I was keenly aware that things could go pear shaped and I wanted to be on task. 

Everything went well, and at 11:30 I ran to Target for some more storage containers, tuna fish, and dishwasher pods, and other things. No one was there, which was so nice. I had a good time shopping, and got all the things I needed to get on this trip. 

Lots of afternoon meetings, and a very late request for some help that required a zoom meeting, and success as a result. 

I packed a few boxes, we ate supper, and Doug was going to take Toffee out but we started watching the Thursday Murder Club on Netflix and it was delightful. I waited until it was done to go out for my walk. 

The night was delightfully perfect, and I was just going to do the 10 minute Pokemon stroll but pushed it to 21 minutes. I thought about grabbing Toffee and going for another walk with her but. Maybe tomorrow she'll get her walk. She's snoring and happy. No need to mess with that. 

Closing is scheduled, and we're just waiting for a piece of documentation from Doug's student loans to make the requirements of the mortgage company happy. Cross your fingers. 

Digits! below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Quick Pokemon solo late night walk, 21 min/1.06 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:15am: 147
4:15pm: 180
11:15pm: 112

food & meds:
7:15am: jardiance (out of phentermine)
9:15am: 4 mini chocolate donuts
1:30pm: met+glip
2pm: 2 good yogurt and granola bars crushed up
2:45pm: pb & apricot preserves on 647 bread
7pm: big bowl of tuna casserole
9pm: met+glip
zero sugar cranberry juice, vodka

Laboring on Labor Day

After yesterday's day off for errands, today we were back at it.  

But first, coffee. And phone games. And cuddles with Toffee. 

Doug was back downstairs cranking tunes while I worked on our bedroom. It was fun going through brochures and things from our trips. Not everything makes the move, a lot of things got thrown out. There were stacks of things on my bureau, all very disorganized. It felt good to just go through things and pick and choose, and box. 

Linda and I got to chat for a while too, and we got totally caught up after not having check in time for a few days. 

Doug took a nap, I pondered doing the same but instead I took a solo walk, I wanted to be quiet for him, and he had the dog so it was an easy escape out the front door. 

Back by 4:30, they were still sleeping. I sat on the couch and played with my phone for a bit. Doug woke up, and went to the market for milk and a couple things to go with dinner. Geoff grilled burgers, I packed more boxes. 

All told, a good day. I feel like I could have done more but got some good things done. 

Tomorrow is a Monday on a Tuesday but I do not have a single meeting until 1pm, so I may run to target for some more things, or see if I can get some good liquor boxes (and some more wine!) I do need to get some blood work done this week, so I have to go over to that neighborhood anyway. 

We'll see what I feel motivated to do, and what work has in store for me. Our weather looks spectacular every day this week, the 10 day forecast only goes to the 15th. Hoping for plain sailing weather on the Tuesday...

No pic today. Too busy to document anything. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 25 min. outdoor solo walk, 1.13 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 139
4:30pm: 105
10:15pm: 127

food & meds:
9am: jardiance (out of phentermine)
11:30am: mac & cheese w/hamburger
2:30pm: met+glip
5pm: apple w/pb
7:30pm: one cheeseburger w/ giant slice of tomato, macaroni salad
wine+diet ginger ale
8:30pm: mixed nuts
9pm: met+glip

Two Strikes and a Wicked Good Home Run

Doug and I spent the early part of the day pulling together paperwork for the mortgage. Hoping we got everything but I feel like all week there will be asks. 

I found out the water/electric are handled by the Title Company. My mortgage person said that the appraisal was supposed to have happened Thursday but she hasn't gotten any paperwork on that. She said hopefully Tuesday. Doug locked in our homeowners' insurance (and did the bundle with the car etc). 

He did some research on what internet service we want, and will arrange for the account under his name so we can keep the house here active for Geoff for the time he's here and we are not. He has homework, school work, and heck - Roku WWE/AEW to watch for entertainment. Can't screw him over.

Around 1pm he said "I need to get the emissions done on the car, and I have a check to deposit. You want to come with or do you want to pack boxes?" He added, "you can always pack boxes tomorrow. We have the day off." 

True. True true. Okay. Twist my arm, I'll go. 

Now, Doug does not have an active ATM card because his expired and he never got his renewed card and somehow couldn't adult hard enough to get it. Geoff uses my debit card to buy groceries. Earlier in the week he used it, and left it on the dining table. 

We got to the bank and Doug said "okay, can I have your debit card."

Doh. lol. hahahahha. No. You cannot. It is on the dining table. 

So we left. Then we went to get the emissions done on the car at the 24/7 auto testing kiosk. We were fifth in line, and .... waiting. Waiting. WAITING. 

We got to the kiosk and Doug entered the info on the car. "At this time, we cannot do an emissions test on this model of vehicle. Please go to the blah blah blah...." 

So ... two big assed strikes. 

I was regretting coming with. I thought of all the boxes waiting to be packed. 

Next stop was a brewery we love, but for some reason it took forever and ever to get there. It was weird. 12 miles, moving the entire time, but it took an hour? Very surreal. But we got there, and they had a Pho/Vietnamese street food truck, and it was such a joy to roll up on the scene. 

Live music from a guy named Ryan playing Grateful Dead songs (mostly) and some originals. He didn't know any Guster. We ordered beers and Bahn Mi from the food truck. I was planning on skipping the bread, but these dudes have some magical dough and it was perfect beyond belief so I enjoyed eating it!  We had a nice chat with the beer tender who accidentally poured the wrong beer and offered it to Doug because it would be a tragedy to have to pour it out. 

Guaranteed to get you a big tip. And we were generous. 

We talked about our moms. Doug's mom called us yesterday and my mom has called several times this week. They have news that isn't news. It's sometimes exhausting. But he said we need to be thankful because they could be gone before the end of the year, or next year, or heck - they could be around 10 years. But we are here to listen and help. 

Doug sometimes puts things into perspective. 

We left the brewery and were home in a half hour. Hard to believe after all the driving over hell and half of Prince George's County we did to get there. 

Thankfully tomorrow is indeed a holiday. Boxes will be packed. I've already put the bank card in my purse so tomorrow we can go drive to a different ATM and deposit it. We need a trip to the store for things like dishwasher tablets, and a couple other things. 

Digits below. Here are some Morning Glories from the fence outside, these are going to be torn out by the property manager, so I am enjoying them fully and planning my next fence for next year at my own house. 

Looking forward to that.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. took a walk while Doug & Dog snoozed, 20 min/.95 miles; 8k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 154
-pm: n/a
10pm: 111

food & meds:
9am: jardiance (out of phentermine)
12 noon: pb & apricot jam on 647 bread
3:45pm: met+glip
4pm: bahn mi; 2 beers
6:30pm: pasta w/chicken "fra diavlo" Geoff style
white wine+diet ginger ale
10pm: met+glip

Treasures

I spent the morning pondering things.

We have to find a whole new Chinese restaurant to order delivery from. Yesterday when the guy came, he said "oh! Where is your dog? I'm used to her barking when I knock on the door." He's been here enough (which actually isn't all that much because we don't order delivery a lot) to know about the doggie doorbell. 

We'll need a new vet.

We'll need a new mechanic.

We'll need all new everything from market to gym to nail salon. 

We will probably change banks, which means a whole new change all the ACH deposits and auto-debits to a new account. 

There will be so many change of address things to do.

I will have to arrange the accounts for electric, water, internet. We close on Friday the 12th, I would like internet at the house ASAP if Doug and I are going to be up there starting the 16th. I now feel like our initial plan was right, to move on the Friday, that way I can get all the utilities lined up during the week. We may not be able to get someone to the house on the 16th to do the internet. Hmmm. 

I don't think we're dropping our insurance during open enrollment (which is coming up fast). This means we won't be changing doctors' offices necessarily. Where we are moving does not have a Kaiser Permanente location locally and the nearest one is almost 30 miles away.  The bigger medical center is 45 miles, and the one we currently go to (which is 2 miles away from our front door right now) is 65 miles. 

This dictates we will have to be more mindful and planning to do bloodwork, and appointments. We'll probably have to change doctors to a different doctor in the practice, or, keep her and just plan a day off work to drive down here to keep seeing her. It isn't like we see her every month (both Doug and I use the same doctor) and we could do virtual visits. But still. It's far. At least I can get blood work done, but only between 8am and 5pm, as opposed to our current location which opens at 7 and stays open until 8pm. The big medical center location is 24 hours 7 days a week so I could go on a Saturday and make a road trip about it. 

Maybe I could go to a lab out of network? I have to look into that. But 30 miles is not that far. I just have to be far more mindful of things medical, I guess. 

This morning I woke up before 8am. Doug was already up, dog fed, coffee brewing. We sat on the couch until 10:30 and he said he had errands to run. Go to the bank, deposit a check, deposit a giant bag of coins he rolled over the winter. He was going to get the emissions done on the car, and go to the orchard to get some apples, maybe some peaches. 

He asked if I wanted to come and I told him no, I was going to start putting stuff in boxes. So. I did. Committed myself to doing it. I had Geoff bring the storage totes downstairs. 

I feel like this always happens. We start our packing/moves completely organized and then by the end it is throw shit into garbage bags and run. He got back from his errands and I had indeed accomplished things. I started to pack books and stopped because I thought he might want to purge some things to the little free libraries of the area. He said nah. Go ahead and pack. 

There were two big boxes in my bedroom from my office. In 2020 our facilities team packed up our desks, and at some point in 2021 I went in and picked my stuff up. It has been sitting in my bedroom ever since. 

The boxes contained a lot of swag, things from conferences and stations. Business cards from people long since gone from their positions. There were some really cute memories, something about A.I. from some company that was just getting into gear (and now I say oh fuck you and all your A.I. buggery, you shits). 

I sorted through things, purged a lot. Got down to one small box of keepers. 

I was excited to find the Bee Gees nesting doll. And the pokemon Bulbasur stickers my friend Angela designed. And so much more. Everything into a box, and set aside. 

In the new house, I hope to have an actual office and a really nice set of bookcases, and will unpack some swag so it'll be like a right proper fun workspace. 

One of those boxes has become the Guster Keepsake box, and I have a lot of things in there. Holy Shit do I have a lot of Guster swag. And not a single piece of it is worthless, I tells ya. I also have a lot of posters, I need to decide what to do with those. 

There is a shoebox of beer stickers and coasters, another shoebox of more miscellaneous stuff.  

After doing this packing/organizing Doug decided the dog needed a bath, so we took her down to the basement and plopped her in the utility sink. We do not have a utility sink in the new house. 

She behaved wonderfully, and then she took a giant nap. 

I was working on something else and Doug called me outside, our neighbor J and Toffee's best friend Meg were in the yard. We had a nice visit, and decided we need all the possible fun playdates over the next two weeks. These two are going to miss each other horribly! 

Well, this is going to be our basic kind of update, minus the dog bathing, over the next couple weeks. Fun. Here's a picture of the stuff I found. Memories, man. Memories!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Inside walk, 15min/.71 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 192
4:30pm: 133
10:15pm: 144

food & meds:
8am: jardiance (out of phentermine)
1pm: apple w/pb; low sugar yogurt w/crushed granola bar
2:30pm: met+glip
7:30pm: kielbasa, green beans, pierogis
white wine+diet gingerale
8:30pm: mixed nuts
9pm: met+glip

Sounds like a personal problem

Wednesday night I got very little sleep. Tossed and turned, fell asleep and woke up 20 minutes later, repeat... repeat. Anxiety will do that. 

Thursday all day I was grumpy. I forced myself to shower at some point thinking it would make me feel a little better but it didn't help. I rescheduled a meeting for Friday that I just didn't have the energy to deal with on Thursday. 

Doug and I had an argument about something stupid that afternoon which was extra dumb and stupid. Additionally, I told him the quote for the movers and the moving date. He had initially told me he wanted to move the Friday after we close, and then yesterday said he never said that.

Oh yes you did. You sure did. Something along the lines of: Let's take that week and paint and move things easily. But no, he said he didn't say that. So I moved the moving date. It makes sense to move mid-week but also, Jesus do not tell me you didn't say something when ya did.

I just do not enjoy being gaslit? 

Anyway. Friday before a holiday weekend we used to get early dismissal. My department head doesn't do that anymore because we're all home anyway. Which is a drag because every other department head lets their people go at 2 or 3pm still. It's a bit annoying. 

At 4pm one of my clients registered an emergency page for one of the products I support. I see the emails but I'm no longer on call. The person who was on call slacked me to ask if he could bother me to help this guy out. He called the client, got all the details of his complaint/issue and then reported back to me. 

"This is not an emergency. This can wait until Tuesday. Who does this on a Friday before a blessed holiday weekend?!" I gave the colleague the answers he needed to at least make the complainer happy-ish. And we talked about how stupid this was. 

Back in the day, my work wife and I would get helpdesk emergency calls at stupid times for stupid reasons and we'd basically say "This sounds like a personal problem..." about the issue. Usually it was. But we'd still have to be helpful and all that. Hatefully so. 

I still think this in my head a lot of times, your lack of planning is not my emergency. You have no idea what you are doing and chose to do this at the worst time on the planet. 

I had a deadline on Friday to edit/prep changes to at least 5 helpdesk documents and I got 4 done by 6:30pm when the chinese food showed up. 

That's how exciting my life is. 

Should have posted this entry on Friday night but I fell asleep on the couch watching a Great Courses series about the Crusades. Just like college, I would have fallen asleep in class. So I'm back-dating this to yesterday. Ha. 

Digits for 2 days below. 

Thursday digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  Missed noon while teaching a class. didn't feel like big walk. 5500+ k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 105
5pm: 119
11pm: 199

food & meds:
8:15am: phentermine+jardiance
9:45am: bowl of yogurt w/crushed granola bar
2pm: met+glip; pb& low sugar j on 647 bread
6pm: 2 fajitas w/chicken thighs and grilled onions, guac, shredded cheese, sour cream
2 beers
9:30pm: met+glip

Friday digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. 10 min indoor walk, .53 mile. 6600+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 145
4:30pm: 76
10pm: 194

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
10:45am: a little mac & cheese with bacon
2pm: met+glip
6:30pm: chinese food smorgasbord 
white wine & diet ginger
9pm: met+glip

Too much macaroni salad and a do nothing day

Tuesday night I realized as I got into bed that I didn't blog. When there's nothing really new to report, there isn't anything to report. 

At dinner last night, it was just Doug and me. Geoff being at school he got home and ate a left over chicken thigh. I had Geoff buy some macaroni salad to go with burgers. That was supposed to be part of tonight's dinner. But we cracked it open to have beside the chicken. 

We kind of killed the container, and when I was cleaning up, there was just a very small amount left. So I ate it. Four spoonfuls isn't enough to justify putting it back in the fridge. I knew my blood sugar would be high, but at actual bedtime it was really decent. 

It went up a lot for this morning's reading but we got it back into good range during the day. Whew.

My workday yesterday was pretty busy, as usual. I took today off to hopefully get a few things done around the house. My one major goal was to head to Target and get some storage containers to start putting things into. 

That much got accomplished. Not much else did. 

My boss told me recently he does not want me working on days I take off. So today... I didn't. I did absolutely fuck all nothing work related. I did check my email and looked at Slack at 5pm and Jesus if tomorrow isn't going to be a mess right out the gate. 

But at least I'm prepared. 

Instead, I did the usual play games on the phone, surf the internet. 

Big thing to note is I looked at pictures from a wedding that happened this weekend. One of Jess' childhood friends got married (she and her new husband also worked with Geoff for a long time up in Massachusetts, so both my kids were tight with S). 

Jess was in the wedding party, which was very sweet. I know they loathe dresses and stuff, so this was kind of lovely to see.. They didn't send me any pictures but the bride's dad posted to FB. Everyone looked amazing. Jess and their roomie Liz were in the wedding party together. Really nice dresses and Chuck Taylor sneakers. Very much all on brand for these kids.

I don't have permission to steal/post the photos anywhere but it was really nice to see all these kids together, kids I've known since they were all in 7th grade, then were all roommates (I referred to them all as the Puppy Pile back in the day). 

I'm very happy for J&S after all these years together. Long may they run. 

Geoff has class again tomorrow, so he's going in early and then going straight to school. I have to get all my plastic bins out of the car and remind him he needs to get gas. I should have done that for him while out on errands. 

Not much else to report. Digits below!

Tuesday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Pokemon walk, 15 min. / .72 miles; 7200+ steps by bedtime (didn't feel like going for it...)  

blood glucose:

7am: 114
4:45pm: 108
11pm: 105

food & meds:
7am: phentermine+jardiance
noon: pb& low sugar j on 647 bread
2pm: met+glip
3:15pm: protein bar
6:30pm: 2 chicken thighs, grilled. a lot of macaroni salad
9pm: met+glip

Wednesday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Walk in the mall before target shopping, 21 min/1.03 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 174
5pm: 108
10:30pm: 74

food & meds:
8:45am: phentermine+jardiance
noon: roast beef & colby jack cheese on 647 bread
2pm: met+glip
7pm: 2 cheeseburgers w/guac on top, no buns
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
9pm: met+glip
pinot grigio + diet ginger ale

Mary, Mary

We got our answer this morning from the property manager. 

We'll pay September's rent. October's rent, technically our "last month's rent" already paid, will be our "fee/penalty" for breaking the lease. 

The catch is, heh, if they are not able to rent the house, we pay for each month that it is vacant. 

So send ya girl and her family mojo, prayers, big care, that someone wants to move in October 1st. That'd be the best bet for us. Even October 31st. Just, not after November 1, please. I want to keep money so we can maybe one day put in my dream bathroom on the second floor...

I posted something in our company slack channel, and one person reached out but she's not looking to move in until January. That's a little too late to be honest. I did give her the property manager's info, perhaps he has something else in this neighborhood for her and her family. 

Damn, it woulda been sweet if she needed in by November 1, right? 

Geoff needs to give his notice, he is deciding what he wants to do. Technically, he's on the schedule to work the weekend of September 26/27, and since we're paying the rent here, well. He can stay here solo after we move the bulk of things out, and the cleaners/contractors/etc can happen all around him. He will hang out in his room, and move upstairs when needed. I can see him and an air mattress and a TV and the internet living happily for a bit. 

And then he can come up to our new home after that last shift. He's thinking about when to give that notice. I would like him to do so this week. I think he is slightly overwhelmed. And that's okay. It's understandable. We can talk tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow.

His class starts tomorrow, his boss adjusted his schedule so that he will work early in the morning and leave by 1pm, come home, drive to campus (he picked a further away campus location because we thought we would maybe be moving way out west, but it should actually be easier to get to than where he used to attend classes at this same college). Tuesday is lecture and lab. He'll be done at 8:30pm and on his way home. I worry about him going to school so far, but it is just two days a week, not every day. And it will be much easier once we move. He won't have to go on the Beltway and 95. It'll go fast, right?

Since yesterday, I have been thinking a lot about the National Shrine. 

It is very focused on Mary, and there are little chapels all around the cathedral with Mary in different national settings from Mexico to Poland, to the indigenous peoples of South America, to southeast Asia. Mary is everywhere in the world, it seems. 

Everyone has their own personal Mary. 

The little chapels are so pretty, and so moving. I've never really been into the Marian Church and a deep reverence for Mary. I think she's cool and all, but I'm more into Jesus. 

Also, I'm sometimes surprised - but shouldn't be I don't think - by Catholic men who are so into her, but also so deeply misogynistic to "regular" normal women of today. Like. We're women too. 

And as a mom, well, she's the penultimate, right? Seeing her in a lot of depictions with her baby, it makes me think of what it was like for her with this little guy. 

So hey, Mary. Be with this mom and that kid I have, help us out in this next month. Thanks in advance. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Two walks. a 15 min/.73 mi in house while dinner was cooking, and a 31 min/1.31 mi dog walk w/doug and toff. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 96
4:15pm: 146
10:30pm: 101

food & meds:
8:30am: phentermine+jardiance
noon: turkey and cheddar on 647 bread
2pm: met+glip
6:30pm: chili, w/meat and beans, shredded cheddar, fritos, sour cream
9pm: met+glip
10:30am: piece of 647 bread w/pb
red wine

We Are All Weird

On both Saturday and Sunday, I slept in, which was bliss. I feel like I have not had a good long sleep in for a while. Summer was busy this year. I always set my alarm for 9:45 on Saturday and Sunday so I don't miss that hour's steps. Saturday I slept until 9:30 organically and Sunday needed the alarm.

Saturday we did nothing. I had thought of doing yard work, going out and around and trimming the morning glories back, but the couch had my name written all over it. I didn't do anything at all but play games on my phone. At about 5pm, Geoff came upstairs and I dispatched him to the market. 

"I don't feel like going," I told him. 

"Neither do I, but I will," he replied. 

Thankful for that kid. He got stuff for four meals, which is good, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays he is not going to be available to do a market run after the gym, since his class starts this week. 

I thought about having a fire but Linda and I talked on the phone while I walked Toffee, and then it was a little too late to start a fire. 

I'm surprised now that it is dark by 8pm, because that's sometimes the perfect time to walk. And it always was light, but now is not. Toffee thinks everything in people's yards is suspicious and she pulls and jets all around. It makes walking her hard when she thinks the tree stump she saw earlier is a bunny.

Sunday started out with a lot more of doing nothing again. I folded laundry - what I think is the equivalent of 11 baskets - while Doug took a nap. So that is a major victory. Doug pitched the idea of us going into see an organ recital at the National Basilica in Brookland, to hear an organ recital. They have done this every Sunday evening all summer, and next week is the last one. I think the concept that we're leaving the DC area and all the interesting free cultural things that are at our disposal are going to disappear or become a schlep very soon.

We had dinner at a DC pizza chain and it was actually the best pizza I've had in the area, ever. I didn't want pizza, but it wasn't a huge pizza, and that's okay. 

The concert was at 6pm but we were early and enjoyed walking around. Since the last time we visited the campus, there is this wonderful and amazing sculpture called Angels Unaware in the new Welcome plaza. The scripture underneath from the book of Hebrews encourages us to show hospitality to strangers because there could be angels among them that we are unaware of.  

It always rings true to me, and living in DC these days, which under the current administration has become one of the least welcoming, least hospitable, least loving places on earth, we see kindness shine all around amongst regular people being kind to others. I see it every time I come into town. I just do not see it coming out of our official ruling seat. Ever.

The sculpture features all sorts of refugees, from those willing to come to America, and those who were stolen and brought here against their will. 

I could have studied it for so long, there is so much to see in here: the faces; the bodies; the gestures. It hurt my heart to look into the faces, look at the muscles straining in some of the hands, think about the suitcases, the babies. 

But it was time go move along and that was probably a good thing. 

Not just the parents and the baby, but the little one to the right and her lovey rabbit. I'm glad it was time to go.

We went into the cathedral, and the mass was ongoing so we walked around the building. There was a 5:30 carillon at the beginning for a half hour, so that was the "opening act" for the organ recital. We sat outside and listened, enjoying the pleasant night, and using the little computer in my hand to find out how the carillon is played at this cathedral. It's very interesting. 

While we were eating pizza, we had seen a woman in town, walking and dancing, gesturing and having a good time. She came up on the steps of the cathedral while we were there. She had ear buds in, and what seemed to be a small mixing bowl strapped to her belly by what looked like a baby wrap, like a moby strip. She was drumming on it, and dancing all around. Living her best life. Okay, you go, girl?

Here are a couple videos, I'll try to put them in a table later so they are side by side. The first one is about 90 seconds of her dancing, the second is less than 30 of people coming out of church and passing her.

Neither of us were sure what her deal was, and it was killing me to not go over and ask her what she was doing. Parishioners came out of the cathedral as the service ended, and no one paid her any mind. Some people looked at her, but no one engaged or bothered. 

They just went on, and so did she. 

There was a young man standing on the steps watching her, and he was a little stunned. She danced away, down the steps, behind us, and he said "what the actual hell?" and I heard him. We made eye contact, and he shook his head. "That is incredibly disrespectful." He said. 

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "We don't know what her story is. Maybe that's her act of worship and praise, who can say if nobody asks her."  To me, it wasn't disrespectful. It was weird yes, unexpected sure, but she was not hurting anyone, she wasn't yelling or doing anything outrageous. This is DC. You never know what you might see.

On the other hand, he had on a sweatshirt glorifying crusaders. And to me, honestly, in this The Year of our Lord 2025, let's not pump up worship of crusades and crusaders, okay? Can we learn that those years were bad? And bad things happened? And crusaders were horribly misguided people? Maybe? Can we just not act like what they did was awesome? 

Nothing she was doing was on any scale, especially mine, horrible, wrong, or disrespectful. He seemed a peculiar person, too. He noticed Doug's shoes. I'm not sure which one of them said "hey we have the same shoes," but the kid said "these are organists shoes."

"Oh! Are you an organist?" I asked. He told me no. And that was it.

He may not be an organist but he is very much an organist fan, though. He told us the carillon was being played by Paul Hardy, and he seemed to know a lot about him. But he wasn't the organist for tonight. M. Chad Levitt was there to blow our socks off. 

The kid sat a few rows behind us, and he played "air organ" along with some of the pieces. There were people sitting four rows behind him laughing. They had their faces covered with their hands or the program. They just couldn't even with that guy. 

I felt badly for him. He was jamming to his very favorite just like I lose my shit at 4:19 during any performance of Guster's "Come Downstairs And Say Hello" when Brian goes at the hand drums. Or other people hit that banjo drop in a Mumford & Sons song. 

He was so there for it. And loving it. And they were just laughing at him. I thought of the reaction that kid had to the dancing woman on the steps, he thought she was wrong and disrespectful, and those kids thought he was laughable and a joke. 

We're all weird, aren't we? Weird to someone. And my heart is always full of thoughts of kindness and hospitality the best I can, even if - to be honest - I may make some sort of "what's up with that guy?" comment before I'm exhibiting my kindness. 

Anyway. It was a great night and we were home before 8pm. I kind of thought we'd go out but our favorite place in Brookland closed a while back so. Home. We can drink for less at home, to be honest. 

Another work week begins tomorrow, with my heart hoping for an update on our lease situation. Hold us in your hearts, okay? I'd like the end of September so Geoff can give a good long period of notice to work. I need to be of good heart. 

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Three walks: solo while Doug & Toffee napped, 22 min/1.02 miles. In the house while making dinner & Doug and Toffee were out, 20 min/1.3 miles. With Toffee, forcing the last 2k steps so help me God, 22 min/1.01 miles ; 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 120
4:45pm: 135
10pm: 105 

food & meds:
10am: phentermine+jardiance 
noon: mac & cheese w/ a lot of bacon
2pm: met+glip
7pm: bowl of tortellini and red sauce 
9pm: met+glip

Sunday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Several short walks, to and from the metro, around Brookland DC. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 135
4pm: 139
10:30pm: 121

food & meds:
10am: phentermine+jardiance 
12:30pm: bowl of plain greek yogurt w/granola bar crushed into it
2pm: met+glip
4pm: protein bar
5pm: sausage+ onion pizza at &pizza 
8:45pm: met+glip
red wine & diet ginger ale