West Again

We took Geoff and Toffee with us today out to Front Royal, Strasburg, and new to us, Winchester. We wanted to show him the downtowns, and drive by a couple houses. There was an open house at one place we drove by, so Geoff and I went in and Doug walked the dog. Not the house for us, I'll be honest. 

Winchester is a super fun town, with a downtown pedestrian only area full of restaurants and shops. We parked easily on a side street and strolled over to the Broken Window Brewing Company. Initially Doug had suggested we stop in Strasburg at the Box Office Brewery but I told him if we did that, we'd never make it to Winchester. 

Glad we did. No one was at the brewery, the dog was welcome inside and that was nice. We got to know the beertender Kyle, and had a pretty splendid time. We ordered delivery from a pizza shop, and it was fantastic. I had one piece and 2 giant chicken tenders. Surprised by my really decent blood sugar at bedtime tonight. 

Still a lot to look at and think about. Doug has added Martinsburg WV to his towns to look at list. Some really nice listings there and the prices are super low compared to Winchester. 

A good day all except the sitting and not getting steps, but I knew that would be the case. I didn't push it after we got home to do 4000 steps at 8pm and did not feel like going to the gym. That's okay. We'll make things up tomorrow. 

Small emergency at work at about 10pm so I helped out with that since my buddy tagged me in the messaging. Normally I'm not on ER/emergency kind of level of help anymore (which is nice but also I hate watching from the sidelines sometimes). We got everything buttoned up that we needed to and tomorrow morning will dive in earnestly to getting things fixed. 

Digits below. But look at my good dog inside at the brewery (waiting for pizza crust!)

digits

exercise: 8/12 hours.  Lost out on 11am, 2pm (not sure how on that one), and 5 and 6pm. Mostly because in the car. One measurable walk for a solid 11 min./.36 miles; 7500+ steps by bedtime (didn't feel like going for a walk after we got home) 

blood glucose:

8:30am: 112
n/a
11pm: 109

food:
coffee/water
8:30am: phentermine; met+glip
10:30am: turkey sandwich on 647 bread
4pm: slice of pizza and 2 giant chicken fingers, 2 beers; met+glip
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts tossed w/kettle corn (think cracker jack, but better!)
9:30pm: jardiance

Recital and Walking

My friend H had a piano recital today. We were thinking of going west to show Geoff the area out there but I'd promised him I'd go. If it was a 10am recital, that'd be great. But no. 1:45pm. 

That's okay, I think the plan is that we'll go west tomorrow. We don't want to go next weekend, it's Memorial Day, Geoff is working, and we just do not want to deal with traffic. But maybe it'd be a good idea to go and see how crowded town gets in Front Royal, Winchester, Strasburg? 

We really want Geoff to get the vibe out there. Soon enough. 

The recital was good. H has come a long way. He did his own arrangement of two songs that he thought sounded good together, made a kind of bridge between them and an outro that echoed the first song. The kid is amazing. The other kids were great too. There is a family with three kids, and the oldest one is just simply amazing. He plays violin and piano and they always save him for last because he's rather inspirational. His younger two siblings are not too shabby either. 

One boy played the drums and sang. His teacher played along on guitar. The song choice was "Roxanne" by the Police. It's kind of funny to listen to a rather young human sing the lyrics to that song with his not yet voice changed high notes on the Roxanne. Another kid played "Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows and he did such a good job playing guitar and singing at the same time. Once the kids get to a certain level, they're allowed to start picking rock songs if they want. I was sitting there thinking of H performing "Philosophy" or "Narcolepsy" by Ben Folds. Not sure if he can sing and play at the same time. I should ask S. 

Doug mowed the lawn, showered and napped while I was gone. I tried to nap while he was out walking Toffee but Geoff yelled to me to let me know dinner was ready. Thanks. I ... could have eaten when I woke up but okay. 

After I ate I took a walk, burn off that pasta sugar! I was about to turn one way when I felt it starting to rain, so I diverted and came back. I would have gotten that last 1500 step count in if it didn't start raining on me. So I got it in at the end of the third period of the Stars/Jets hockey game, and got back just in time for overtime. 

Up to the little free library and back down, just past my house to the next corner, cross the street, turn around, come back. Pretty much 1500 steps. Perfect to cap the day off. I was surprised to see so many people out walking at 10:30pm. It had cooled off from being in the upper 80s during the day, so perhaps that was the attraction. Night time strollers all of us.

Quiet day overall. I need to go through my pictures from Monday that I took on our little group outing in DC for work. Too tired to do it tonight. Digits! Below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  One long walk, 20 min/1.06 miles and an end of night walk to get the last 1500 steps, 11 min./.5 miles. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:15am: 114
5pm: 130
10pm: 111

food:
coffee/water
9:15am: phentermine. met+glip
11am: English muffin w/pb and bonnie maman's cherry preserves
5:30pm: bowl of a creamy/cheesy pasta dish Geoff discovered w/broccoli and mushrooms. Met+glip
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
10pm: jardiance

Almost A Houseguest

All of my teammates who left yesterday have made it home. We had a meeting, and we're back on Slack chatting, just like old times. 

Except one. 

My buddy B decided to spend an extra night here so he could enjoy some DC yesterday. He went to the airport this morning and then sat on his airplane for ... 4 hours. 

They offboarded them at 4pm. He messaged me and I told him he could stay here, we'd keep him until tomorrow if no flights were available. But he managed to work with the travel department for our job, and they rebooked onto a 6pm flight.  

He messaged me at 8pm. Everyone was freaking out all around him, because somehow - their flight left without any passengers. 

Gone.

No one knew what was going on. Now, my buddy is 30. He's very sweet and gentle. He is a sweet summer child from St. Louis, and I am a momma bear. So I adore him and hate to see him come to any stress or harm. I don't know how many times in the last 3 years he's been on a zoom call with me crying through something bad (personal or work related). but I'm there for him at all times. 

I've changed the bed sheets in the guest room. I've tidied up the bathroom and kitchen. Dishwasher is running. 

Ooops. Flight didn't leave without them. Gate changed and no one working at the airport knew what the hell was happening. 

They were suddenly all swept into a line very quickly and put on a plane. He repeatedly asked the flight attendants "Are you sure this flight is going to St. Louis, because I think people may be a little confused around here." 

They assured him ... yes. St. Louis. 

He texted me at 11pm to tell me he made it, it was a horrible violent flight. But he was home. 

Sad to not have him as a house guest tonight but very happy he made it home. I also realized we didn't get any nice pictures together. Hopefully next visit. 

My sister and her husband also were flying today, down to Ronnie's nephew's graduation in New Orleans. They were delayed repeatedly, and Lin texted me to let me know they landed. AND the bonus extra hour for being in central time was her reward. 

I didn't take any pictures today. We had horrible weather aat 5pm, so I rescued Geoff from work and when we got home the sun was out. So weird. 

But the picture I'm sharing today is from linda, from her hotel. 223 comes back again. Digits below. Because of all the B drama, I didn't go to the gym like I thought I would, but I did get a short walk. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  15 min dog walk, .73 miles; 7k+ steps by bed.

blood glucose:

8am: 113
4:30pm: 151
10:30pm: 111

food:
coffee/water
8am: phentermine
9am: met+glip
9:45am: english muffin w/ pb & low sugar j
1pm: 3 "kitchen sink" cookies from the grocery store
5pm: met+glip
6pm: one cheeseburger w/no roll; bacon/tomato/mayo kind of a salad
9:30pm: jardiance
no beer/wine/alcohol

Gold Star Balloon Day

This was the last day of our in-office responsibilities. They weren't mandatory attendance things, but, living so close to the office I felt like I had no excuse to beg off and not go. Almost everyone came in. We have new team mates that we've never met in person. So I felt compelled. Drawn. Wanting to be there. 

My work bestie RC lives in Baltimore and she was going to come down for some of these meetings. There was a giant fire in the city that shut down the train lines on Tuesday. And then Wednesday she had a day of other obligations. Today, she made it! 

So happy to have time with my bestie to chat, catch up, walk around the neighborhood, go to Starbucks, laugh at stuff. Catching her up on some drama at work and stuff, chats I had with some folks, and the whole thing... it was good to connect. 

We were walking down the street and a balloon came around the corner and attacked us. I asked her to take my picture. Then I let it go again. I cropped this picture down to make it square, but I do want to say when I left the house my hair was wonderfully curled and amazing. Less than 3 hours in DC humidity and boom. Nothing. Ha. 

Folks began leaving, flying home after days of activities. I scheduled two station meetings for 3pm and 4pm, and it kept me busy. I got to keep working while they got to move along.  

RC left around 2 to head home to Baltimore. And I miss everyone already. 

It's kind of funny, I was talking to one of my colleagues who stayed at a hotel one block from the office, and he said it was a real joy to come in at 8:30 every day, leave, go walk around the city, go out to dinner with other colleagues, grab a beer at the very favorite brewery around the corner, and be back in the hotel in bed by 9:30! No commute! 

I had my commute, and it was a challenge each day in different ways. Today the train rides were both super easy, so that was a gift. And I was going to walk to the metro AND walk back, but Doug offered to drive me down so I accepted that. I did walk back though. And it was DC hot and humid, reminding me of how miserable it will be soon. 

To think, we used to do this every damn day. I'm so relieved I do not have to do this on a regular basis. RC and I talked about how we should make a date once or twice a month to come into the city and be together. She is a big germ phobic and was incredibly anxious about being in a place that was "too peopley" like the train, so she wore a mask, and she hated people talking loud on the phone. She wished she had her emotional support stuffed animal to curl up into and scream... but she made it. 

At the office, we landed in a cube together and someone asked why we were crammed in there together. It just seemed natural, we were talking and looking over things together and ... why do that with a divider between us? Someone else said "I really miss the way you two talk to each other, you are cracking me up." 

It's true. We are fun and funny. 

Tomorrow I go back to normal, we all go back to normal. Remote work, bare feet, a dog snuggled up to my thigh, walking around outside instead of doing my 250 steps on the fifth floor. 

Here's me and the bestie. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  A couple measurable walks but the big one was the walk home from the metro. 20 min/.93 miles; 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 82
n/a
10:30pm: 118

food:
coffee/water
7am: phentermine
8:15am: met+glip
10am: some hash browns with onions and peppers; a couple bites of some sort of a frittata which ... was not good (sadly! our cafe usually has wonderful food but this was tasteless and bland).
1:45pm: bowl of ground turkey "bahn mi" bowl, tiny amount of rice, a lot of turkey, veggies, pretty good
5:30pm: met+glip
7:30pm: left over potato salad from the other day w/left over kielbasa diced up
9:30pm: jardiance
no alcohol/beer/wine

Blistery Toe

And the final busy day of the conference comes to an end. Big meetings, big discussions, and some big fun too. 

I had a double whammy today of the busiest day of the conference topped with a night out at a fundraising gala with S. It is always a super fun fundraiser, I've gone three times now. They have a feature where they have kids working with DC chefs and they make these wonderful things that we all get to judge. 

My favorite one was the goat cheese with basil on a crostini, with pickled strawberries and a balsamic vinaigrette glaze. It sounds wild, but it was absolutely amazing. 

Got home super late, tired, dead Fitbit so I know I got 10k overall but the reading is 8k. Oh well. Gotta remember to charge the damn thing! 

Here's a picture of me with S and Nikki who runs the community garden at an elementary school in DC. We volunteered to help get the garden set up a couple years ago with my sister, Spicy V, and another couple of guster fans who joined in with us. She remembered us, and the hug that I got from her. Amazing. I want to take a day and go down and work with her again before it gets too Summer in these parts. But that's right when the garden gets rocking! 

Off to bed. Once more to the office tomorrow and then I don't have to do this again... for a super long time! 

digits

exercise: 9/12 hours.   Hours lost during meetings/sessions: 10am, 1pm, and 4pm. Fitbit battery died around 8pm so my measured steps today only show about 8k. Got home and charged up. A better steps day tomorrow.

blood glucose:

7am: 101
n/a
11:30pm: 69

food:
coffee/water
7am: phentermine
7:45am: met+glip
9am: 3 pieces of bacon/2 sausage patties (thank you work cafeteria!) 
12:30pm: chicken piccata, broccoli, a spot of orzo
6pm: met+glip
gala food - lots of shrimp and pineapple on skewers, a little bit of pasta, shrimps, broccoli, alfredo sauce, wine
9:45pm: jardiance

And Did It Rain

My goodness. Did it rain today.

I got up early, and it was absolutely pouring. I got to the metro by 8:30 thanks to a lovely ride from Doug. And waited 20 minutes for the train, with about a million other people. Signal failure at a station 2 south of us. I pondered just going up top and calling an Uber but I saw what the traffic was. I'd risk it. A 20 minute trip will obviously take a lot longer. That's okay. 

Thankfully I do not need to do this regularly, again I say thankfully. I listened to people calling into their offices that they were going to be late, etc etc. I slacked my team, and took a picture of all the humans on the platform and the countdown to arrival ticker saying 10 more minutes...

I arrived at work just in time for the 9:30 meeting our team was having, it hadn't started cooking just yet. So I didn't feel bad. And I wasn't the only one late, also thanks to the Metro. 

We had a good meeting, and then clients started rolling in. We had lunch, a big keynote, "break out" rooms, and dinner. I didn't have any of the wine or beer because the food options for dinner weren't very filling or good for carbs. So I avoided what probably would have been a drunkening if I dove in like I wanted to. 

It was a good day, filled with lots of talks, and face to face time with clients and my colleagues. My right hand man and his boss sat at a table with me, and we went through tickets talking about them and who was taking what, and just going over the historical details of the ask. 

My colleague's boss said "wow, this is really nice, sitting together and doing this at a table. So productive." I said "you live in Chicago so we're not going to make you move back here, but we should maybe make a point to once every couple weeks set up a zoom and rip into some of these issues together. Either that or we all start coming back to the office. Ha. Never."

At about 8pm I was done. I was in a the middle of a good discussion about Spanish Translation of articles with one of my favorite people from our Miami client and another work bestie who likes to get into good trouble with me. I noticed the time and said "ugh. I still have to go home." 

We kiss kissed bye bye and I headed out in the POURING rain to the metro. I texted Doug and Geoff and Geoff met me at the station. 

He made chorizo quesadillas for dinner and that just was not appetizing to me. Appreciate the effort but that's spicy and greasy and no. To be honest, tired means nothing is appetizing to me. But I knew I needed to eat. So I made a pbj sammitch and opened a bottle of wine. Seemed like the thing to do. 

Feet up, hockey on, cuddling with my dog who missed the hell out of me all day and I have to say, I too missed her. 

Tomorrow is another exceptionally long day because I agreed to go to S's fundraiser for her non-profit that she's on the board for. It's for kids and you know I'm a sucker for kids and trying to make their lives brighter. So look at me. I'll be fancy. But it will be so late when I get home. I thought about driving in, but if I do, I have to make it back across town to get the car to go home. Although... I could maybe just leave it at the work garage overnight?

Nah. I'll metro. Just gotta get up early, get dressed, be ready to be pretty for the evening thing. 

No picture today but digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Several walks of distance, but I only actually tracked one on the fitbit, 8 min/.4 miles. 12k+steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

7am: 123
n/a
11pm: 117

food:
coffee/water
7am: phentermine
8am: met+glip
12:30pm: 1/2 Turkey BLT (ate some of the roll)
2pm: 1/2 chicken salad wrap
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: some sushi, vegetarian gyoza, spinach artichoke dip (not a substantial dinner)
8:30pm: pb&low sugar j on 647 bread
10pm: jardiance
white wine

Four Times Into The Breach

(Entry from yesterday I forgot to publish)

Big meeting week at work means I head into the city like it is The Before Times. Four whole times this week. Pray for me. How did I used to do this.

Today we had a small team gathering. 

Tomorrow a mandatory full team 9am meeting. Clients and folks start arriving, keynote at lunch, meetings. Meetings. Meetings. Some fun squozed in there somewhere I am sure. 

Wednesday is the full biggest day of meetings and my volunteer ass will be wayfinding, microphone running, being friendly. Possibly one in person meeting with a very unhappy client (my manager is meeting with her and asked me to come with, maybe). 

Thursday the clients have a day to themselves but we're still required to come in for another full team meeting, a "decompress," a "what went well what didn't" kind of discussion with brunch. 

And I may leave right after and head home if I don't feel like being in the office. I may have my absolute fill of going to DC for four days at that point. 

I also find I don't get a lot of work done when I'm in the office. I get so much more work done here. And by Thursday I'll be way behind things. 

The team outing was such a good time. My colleague J put together a really fun excursion for us. We had lunch, then we went down tot he Hirshhorn Museum where we enjoyed the exhibits a lot, and then over to the Botanical Garden. We are all incredibly different, but also really like each other and care about each other. J is selling his condo in DC and it hasn't been moving. The market sucks. He went on vacation and decided to take it off the market and rent it and the day he decided to do that found a new co-worker looking for a long term (1-3 years) lease. 

We talked about letting go of dreams and just finding a path to something possibly unexpected and having the dream come true. 

Now he needs to find a new place in his new city of choice. 

H is building a house and she and her husband are having a wonderful time picking and planning. 

E lives in Colorado and by day is a support manager, by night a rock star. An actual rock star. We talked about that side of her career and how it is going. 

And our boss' dad had emergency heart surgery that morning in Boston. So far, so good, doing well. He said that his brother is there, monitoring the situation, taking care of mom and he'll be going up for the weekend and working from there. 

I walked 7 miles. My feet are killing me. 

I have tons of pictures. None of the botanical garden, though. 

We got back to the office and H and I got together with B from St. Louis, who flew in that afternoon. We had a lovely catch up at the brewery by our office, and it was really packed. The line was out the door. A combination of Trivia night and a policeman's conference of some sort happening where our favorite little watering hole became the place to be in the NOMA area. I was going to order dinner but passed and decided to eat at home. 

I walked back from the metro, too. So many steps today!

Here's a shot of me in the Laurie Anderson: Four Talks exhibit. I could have spent hours here, reading every word. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   Four distinct and measurable walks, 2 walking to/from the metro. 2 in DC from the office to the restaurant and the Hirshhorn to the Botanical Gardens. 17k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 128
n/a afternoon reading
11pm: 92

food:
coffee/water
9am: phentermine
10:15am: met + glip
10:45am: pb& low sugar j on 647 bread
1pm: 3 lovely steak tacos on flour tortillas
6pm: 2 beers at the brewery; met+glip. Was going to order something for dinner but the line was so long!
8pm: bowl of pasta w/ chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms
10:30pm: jardiance

quick note

 All weekend long I didn't feel like picking up the laptop and writing. So here's a quick wrap up of the weekend. 

Saturday we did nothing much. Doug mowed the lawn. I did some house work. I got a short indoor walk in for 15 min but didn't take a real walk. It was a zero day. Felt good. I even took a nap. 

Sunday we went to see my friend Tim perform at a brewery.  He has a ton of original material, but also does a lot of covers. This was a covers show, and he took requests from the 10 of us in the audience yelling out what we wanted to hear. We know Tim through the Guster fan circles and he's what I would call official "Gus Fam" for me. Doug even went with me, which was nice.  

If you have a friend who is a musician or artist, go support them in their craft. These are hard times where creators are being crushed by technology, AI, and buried in the algorithms. Be their audience and the thing that gives them energy and makes them feel alive. 

A lot of hockey, including seeing the most amazing finish to a game in history where the Vegas Golden Nights showed up to play in the last minute of the game and scored 2 goals in the last 49 seconds to force overtime, and then they won. It was sick. I couldn't believe I was seeing it. Kind of the hockey version of "28-3" from the Patriots in the Super Bowl. 

anyway.

Real entry coming later tonight. I kept my digits but I'm not going to log them here. Just wanted to let anyone who wondered where I was for two whole days know I'm alright! Just lazy! 

As for the photos, I wish I caught Tim without the mic stand in front of his face. And the group shot, Henry wanted us to all make crazy faces for a shot (don't all 10 year olds want that?) so I did, but no one else did, so. A rather decent group photo ruined by me and Hen! 

$12.00 worth of our favorite person

Had a bit of fun tonight with S and going out to the 9:30 club in DC. Always such a joy to go see live music, and enjoy someone we mutually adore together. Like Guster or Ben Folds, and here with Amythyst Kiah.  She opened for a band neither of us know, Larkin Poe. 

It's funny because some people don't come for the opener and they just show up for the main act. To be honest, I always feel bad for them, especially in this case. To see Amythyst perform, hear the power in her voice. She's just so incredibly good - I cannot recommend her enough. Anyone getting there late and missing her is poorer for it.

Then there is the other side of the coin, when people come for the opener and leave. A few years back S and I went to see AK open for Josh Ritter. I only knew a couple Josh Ritter songs, but he'd opened for Guster the August beforehand and I loved him so was happy to go see him with his full band. And with AK opening, two of the finest songwriters around. Such a joy. 

There were women sitting next to us who got up after AK was done and they left. They.... left! They said "enjoy the next guy," and I was surprised they were leaving. "Oh we only came for Amythyst. We're not interested in Josh Ritter."

Well. 

Pay tickets for full price to leave after 1/3 of the show is over. Okay? At least stay for a couple songs? At least stay until he plays "Kathleen," maybe? 

Their loss - he and his band were phenomenal. 

S and I took the metro into DC and went to a brewery where the food is pretty good. Only tonight it was not. Sorely disappointed by the food and service. S spent dinner (no fault of hers!) trying to get her 2 tickets she purchased on StubHub transferred to her Ticketbastard account and it was not working. So she got to their support and got nowhere. Doors at 6pm. it is 6:15. I'm thinking no problem, doors at 6pm mean AK goes on at 7?  So I went to StubHub, and bought us 2 tickets for $12 each compared to the $108 she spent on 2 tickets. She ended up telling them she wanted a refund and they said she'd get one. 

Good. 

We headed over, got in line, got inside, 6:15 and AK was into her third song. The fuck? Doors at 6 and AK starts at 6? I asked at the door and they said "with early shows it's this way. I said there was no indication that this was the case, if it said Doors at 5, and AK starts at 6. 

Lady, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WE ARE ONLY HERE FOR THE OPENER? And we are missing her. 

We didn't miss her all the way, we got our good dose of Amythyst and afterward she went to the Merch table and we were able to say hello.

"Have I met you before?" she asks. 

Yes. like. Four other times yes. Hi. She laughed. So fun. She is so genuine and sweet and kind. I look forward to seeing her again in a headlining situation, and on time. 

S and I decided we were not interested in seeing Larkin Poe after all. We were mad because we had to fight with technology, and we got our $12 worth of AK. 

So we became those people who leave after the opener. And I was super okay with that. 

Around the corner we went to a nice looking bar. No food, no wait staff, you had to order at the bar and they slapped a 22% gratuity on the tab. The fuck? We did all the work. Busing our own table, bringing our own drinks over. Jesus that's crap. Glad S caught it because she added another 20% onto her tab (they leave the blank tip line on the receipt for those of us dumb enough to miss the fact we've already paid 22%.) 

She filled out the other receipt that says customer copy and on the tip line she put "you charged me already!" 

We headed to the Metro, she was feeling hungry and we thought about stopping in Silver Spring but went up to the end of our line to the metro stop right by her house. Her husband and her son H came out to join us, hilariously. We had a wonderful finishing up of the night. 

Let's say it wasn't perfect with how we had to fight with technology and I hope to hell she gets her money back from StubHub, but I'm glad we got to see AK and have time to sit and talk and catch up because that was the best part of it all. 

Home tired, ready for bed. Good night!  Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   No measured exercise but we did walk around the streets of DC. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 123
4pm: 118
11:45pm: 145

food:
coffee/water
8:30am: Phentermine
10am: met+glip
10:45am: roast beef and colby jack on 647 bread; couple spoonfuls of potato salad
4:45pm: pb&low sugar J on 647 bread (while waiting for my friend... hungry!) Met+Glip
5:30pm: fried chicken sandwich on brioche, small side salad, cheese curds, beer
7pm-8:30pm: a couple glasses of wine 
after 9:30pm: some spicy egg roll things, a few slices of square pizza; 2 High Noon seltzers
11:45pm: jardiance

Shit Sherpa

You know I love our dog, I have loved all our dogs. The one thing I sometimes hate is being a responsible human being and picking up their poop. Especially if we are a mile from the house on a walk. Carrying the bag of poo is not fun. 

And it is tacky as hell to drop your poop in someone's trash barrel. It's just very uncool. So I see why people don't pick up after their dogs. They're assholes, yeah. But I understand it. 

Since I've been walking a lot more, sometimes I like to just go by myself, solo. No dog means no stopping every couple feet to sniff things, or pee, or ... poop. I can put in a lot of steps in 30 minutes. But Toffee does love a walk, and Doug didn't go tonight. He thought it was about to start raining. But I needed my steps and it was too late in the evening to go to the gym. 

I took Toffee with me. 

While Dahlia was still here I ordered these little things to attach to the harnesses to carry the poop bags. They arrived after Dahlia got adopted, and I forgot to put hers in the box to send to her family. But I use Toffee's every day. I have to tighten her harness (as mentioned, girl dropped some pounds) but it's kind of nice that the little dealie just stays on her harness, you attach the poo bag to it, and they get to carry their own crap. 

Makes taking a walk much more enjoyable. 

We have two parks at either end of our neighborhood where there are trash containers to drop the bags off, and usually I will go a little out of my way to go to either one of them, depending on where we are. Tonight we just walked, it was buggy out and I figured going to the park would be extra buggy. 

Toffee looked super cute tonight, so I got a pic of her with her baggie. It's so heavy, it pulls the handle over all the way to the side. That's a big ole poo. sigh. 

At least I don't have to carry it, and she's adorable.

Tomorrow I'm going to DC to a concert with S. It's so funny because we were so stoked to buy these tickets forever ago. And then all of a sudden, it's time. I find I suck going out on weekdays, and even Friday nights are a challenge. 

Boston based comedian Joe Fenti did this video and I felt it. Deeply in my heart and soul. Make sure you watch the whole thing all the way to the end because this is so valid. So completely valid. And true! 

But we will have a great time, I know it. We're both bailing from work early because the venue doors are at 6 and we would like to be down front. Or up on the second floor on the rail. We'll see how that goes. Dinner beforehand and a nice night out. Her son is super mad that we're going to a concert without him, but he'll survive. Sometimes you gotta let mom have a night off! 

Anyway. Here's a picture of Toffee and her Turd Bag. Digits below! 

 digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  30 min/1.38 miles (should have been at least 1.5 but the dog factor slowed me down). 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 111
5:30pm: 158
10:45pm: 104

food:
coffee/water
9am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
11:30am: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
3pm: several chunks of grilled chicken from last night
5:30pm: met+glip
6:30pm: 2 pork chops by geoff in a bourbon maple sauce
8:45pm: 3 celery sticks w/pb
10pm: jardiance

Fool me once

Today I had one full hour break at noon. I grabbed a quarter for the parking meter, taped up my box, grabbed my wallet, and ran out the door. I'll be home in no time. Piece of cake.

Note to self. 

How many times have you gone to that specific post office over the years and waited on line for a half hour? You bring one quarter to this dog and pony show? Twelve minutes for a quarter. Math. Christine - what were you thinking. Also, you have a team meeting with your department head, and she is so hard to get audience with. Be there.

I walked in to see a big line, and really should have just turned around and walked back out. There were two people working. One is this HORRIBLE older woman who is the rudest person I've ever met, even for a post office. Then there's this younger guy, he's slow as hell. After every customer, he goes out back. Like, is he taking a break because he just sold some stamps?

The lady was having a fight with a guy, while also trying to help a family do their passport for their brand new infant. Someone walked up to her and said he needed tape and she screamed at him that it isn't free, get a roll off the retail rack there and pay for it, it's five bucks. 

Yelling, yelling so much yelling. This is the world's worst post office. I have two other options. One with free parking but getting there is such a challenge traffic-wise, and the other is just too far and it is dumb to go there.

I started to sweat it. 

I was already in there 20 minutes, and the parking enforcement dude was walking up and down the street handing out tickets like christmas cards. 

I knew my meter had expired, but there was only one person ahead of me. The slow dude got up and went out back again and I groaned - no please please please dude, come back! I'm going to get a ticket. 

Kind of not realizing I was muttering this out loud, the lady in front of me said I should go put another quarter in the meter, she'll gladly hold my place (so kind of her). But. Thing is, I didn't have another quarter. I'm stupid. I let her know that, and also how stupid I am. 

So she hands me one, and I looked at the guy behind me like how do you feel if I get out of line here and come back?  

He said "Parking tickets in this town are 50 bucks, so however much your box is gonna cost to ship, add 50 bucks to that. Run go feed the meter, you're good." and I run out to feed the meter. I ran back in relieved. 

Ten more minutes I'm still there waiting my turn. It literally took 2 minutes to do my transaction. Here's the box. I pick the how fast do I want it to go, it is $10.50, here's a 20. 

He doesn't know how to make the change. 

It's $9.50. I tell him this. He looks at me blankly. Another girl is standing behind him and says "give her a 10 dollar bill." 

I tell her no, it's too much, it's $9.50. 

She says "don't sweat it.  I got you." 

I said "maybe put the 50 cents into a little cup for someone who may need to feed the meter." I thanked her profusely, told her she was my hero. Told the woman who was in front of me she was my hero. The guy behind me - my hero. 

I rushed home, got to my computer 2 min before the meeting start. relieved. Great meeting with our department head. We're all going through a lot right now and she's really bearing a burden. So we all had a good moment together. 

I took Toffee to a vet appointment at 4pm. She's gone from 67lbs to 58. Our vet had encouraged us to not feed her as much ("the bag says to feed her that much but the dog food people want you to buy more dog food. She doesn't need that much.") And she had four straight months of Dahlia with face fighting, chasing, wrassling, running around the yard at 90 miles an hour so she has peeled off some weight. I'm interested in seeing if she gains anything back now that she's back to potato mode. It is the one thing I'll truly miss about Dahlia is their play times. 

There was a late call with a client that ran to 6:15pm. It went very well, they launch their site tomorrow and they're ready. Afterwards, I grilled some chicken that I had marinated earlier in the day with some homemade potato salad. I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday while the chicken was grilling. Earlier today I ordered her flowers to have delivered on Friday - right in between her birthday and Mother's Day. So I told her unlock her porch in the morning so the delivery person can drop the flowers where she can get them. 

She told me the same story three times. Then she said "oh! did I tell you this?" no! you did NOT you keep telling me about some guy who called you on the phone. Three times you tell me this story but you don't tell me that other one I need to know. Okay. 

Dinner was ready so I said goodnight, goodbye, I love you. She always says "I love you more," and I always reply "Not possible." It's a little game we play. 

After dinner I needed to do a walk so I went. I've been trying to connect with someone to conspire to something special and beautiful for a gift, and we finally got a chance to talk, so I lengthened my walk desire by 15 minutes just to keep talking to her. It paid off as you can see in the digits. 

Finally, I promised that "soon" was going to happen. And it has. Digits below the picture. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  37 min walk/1.82 miles. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 122
4:30pm: 167
11:15pm: 104

food:
coffee/water
8am: phentermine
10:30am: met+glip
2:30pm: pb & low sugar j on 647 italian bread
4:45pm: the rest of yesterday's tuna salad
6:45pm: grilled chicken breast, homemade potato salad w/egg and bacon. Met+glip
red wine
10pm: jardiance

In the Forgetfulness Zone

My last meeting today ended at 3, and I told myself that I'd run my errand to the post office to send my little gift off to Dahlia's new family but do that after 4, 4:30 or so.... At about 5:15 Doug came upstairs to get Toffee for a walk. 

As they say in the midwest, "Ope." I forgot to go. 

Just in the zone getting some things done, I guess. Tickets, emails, and we had a client trying to do a DNS change for his website and it was not working. Frustrating for him but I don't know how we help him. My work bestie BW and I tried everything we know, and it still isn't going. 

We ... aren't DNS experts. Just supportive and we know enough from my big project to at least get 90% of things done before we start having to find . I think tomorrow we will try again, third time is the charm right? 

So Doug left and I wanted to get dinner started but also I wanted to walk. But I didn't want to go to the gym. Walking inside while dinner was prepping was my answer. 

Geoff got home and we got grilling, tonight was a final for him for one of the two summer session classes he was taking. Tomorrow is his other one. I forgot to ask him if he is registering for anything for 2nd summer semester or not. I'll try and remember to do that tomorrow. 

After dinner I did need to go get a pokemon stop and we have two on our street. If you walk up to one, turn around come back past the house and go to the other it is a 20 min walk-ish. So I did get a second walk in and got the 10k steps easy. 

Gotta get back on my walking grind! That slacker day on Saturday was disappointing, breaking my streak for no good reason. Anyway. 

Tomorrow Toffee has a vet appointment to do her heartworm test, she's overdue for it and I'm wondering what her weight is. They had recommended she drop 5-7 pounds when we brought her in the first time so we did scale back on her dog food from 1.5 cups per meal 2x a day to 1 cup per meal. 

Pretty sure she has lost weight because her harness is too big even though we have adjusted it, it's just so loose across her chest where it didn't used to be. Bet my girl is under 50 now! We're both slimming down, you could say. 

Off to bed. late time zone hockey can't keep me awake and interested. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  2 walks. One inside for 35 min/1.61 miles; then pokemon walk, 21 min/.94 miles; 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 108
5pm: 113
10:15pm: 86

food:
coffee/water
7am: Phentermine
9am: 2 tollhouse cookies (dippin' in coffee, so good)
10am: met+glip
12:45pm: 3 pieces of bacon w/tuna in a low carb wrap
3:15pm: last 2 pieces of bacon, w/mayo in a low carb wrap
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: one cheeseburger w/some tater tots
10:15pm: jardiance
no wine/alcohol

Earworms and Misheard Lyrics

I get earworms. If you don't know what an earworm is, it is usually a song, or just one part of a song, that just plays over and over in your brain. 

It's not an RFK Level Brain Worm but damn, it is as close to one as you can get. 

For the past couple days I've had a doozy. It's a song called "If You Have Ghosts," and the version stuck in my head is the one by the band... Ghost. How appropriate. Not the original version, not the John Wesley Harding version, nope. I hear Tobias' voice over and over. 

But the funny thing is I had the words wrong all along. I thought the lyric was "I don't want my bangs too long." The real line is fangs. Fangs too long. If my sister is reading this I am sure she is laughing at me.

And this is all because of me trying to grow out my bangs because I do want them long. Then this song crossed my mind...  And I've been in my head singing it. I always wondered why on earth the person wouldn't want their bangs too long. And now it makes sense because ... that's not at all what they were singing. I get it now. 

I linked to this nice acoustic version. Watch and enjoy. 

I've had a lot of misheard lyrics in my day but one of the funniest ones is my sister. In Guster's song "Demons," the line is "honest is easy," but she hears "Aunt Esther's easy," which of course makes less sense than bangs being too long but we sing it every time. Much to our self-entertainment. 

There's another good one for Frank Turner fans. In the song "Reasons not to be an idiot," fans hear "invisible llama" instead of "invisible armor." I can hear that one too, but it makes absolutely no sense for a fantastic songwriter to say someone would be wrapped up in invisible llama. 

Still, the collective mind finds it amusing and fans will sing it together. 

Brains are funny things. Be sure to ask me about "Peek Freans and Booze are the colors I choose" someday. 

Today was a busy day. Lots of tickets and a few meetings with clients. Clients that I like, and I love to talk strategy and "should we do this or this," and sometimes I have no proven "this works better than that," but I do have advice like "you don't have a big staff so THIS one is easier than the other." 

During a break in the middle of the day I whipped up some toll house cookies. I have a little box of things for Dahlia that I wanted to get to her new family, her prescription for flea/tick/heartworm, some other meds that I forgot to give them. And I figured I'd also bake cookies for the humans to make the box worth while. 

And yes, I did eat cookies. They were so good.

I was going to go to the post office to ship the box and then hit gym around 4, but unfortunately didn't wrap up until after 5. I grilled dinner, we ate, and I figured if I didn't go to the gym I wasn't going to get steps. We had some wild weather on the way. And sure enough, I did 22 minutes on the treadmill and wanted to go home. Never go straight to the treadmill after eating. Plus, the gym is mobbed at 7:30pm. 

Sadly, I should have stayed on the treadmill or something because there was an epic storm. Hard to see while driving home, I relied on the tail lights of the car in front of me. The lines on the road were completely invisible, and it was a little nerve wracking. Thankfully I was on the phone with Linda while driving and that kept me calm. 

Got home for some hockey night action, and dishes to load into the dishwasher. 

So if I can be a motivated human, I can go to the post office in the morning and mayyyyyyybe the gym? I have a 10am meeting, so that may be cutting it close. We'll see what happens. 

Digits! below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, 22 min/1.21 miles. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 146
5pm: 203
10:45pm: 98

food:
coffee/water
8am: phentermine
10:30am: met+glip
12:30pm: pb+low sugar j on 647 bread
1pm: chocolate chip cookie (I was baking and it fell apart. oops)
2pm: another cookie
5pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
5pm: met+glip
6pm: 3 grilled sausages, peppers & onions
red wine + gingerale
9:30pm: jardiance

A day of a whole lotta nothin

Today we did nothing. I took two small naps, I must have needed them. Doug took one big giant one.  It was pouring most of the morning, and while I do have a lot of indoor things to do today was just not the day to do it. I wanted to go to the garden store and get plants but in the weather, both of us were "meh" about it.

Doug took Toffee for a walk while I made dinner, so while they were out I walked inside. I didn't think I'd get a real/decent walk in today and at 5pm found I was only at about 4k for the day. Eep. 

It cleared up late in the afternoon and so I made use of the time after we ate. I've managed to play Pokemon for 40 straight days which is crazy for me. I usually go weeks without playing. But with walking the dog/s as much as I did in the last monrh or so, it made sense to revive the participation. 

22 minutes is a touch less than a mile, I should have walked up the street and back again to get 30 but just didn't feel motivated. I rewarded myself with some wine. Good job, Chris! you did it!

At about 8pm I realized I had 2k steps left for the day. Oy. Can I do it? 

I did. I ran in place in the bedroom for several hundred steps, and walked around while watching hockey. I unloaded the dishwasher and walked the length of the kitchen between putting things away. We did it. Hooray. 

Aside from talking about houses, we really didn't do much. And some days you need that. Right? 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 15 min. Indoor walk while Doug took Toffee out. 15 min/.7 mile. Pokemon walk, 22 min/.99 mile. Pushed to get to 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 125
5pm: 137
10:30pm: 90

food:
coffee/water
8:30am: phentermine
10:30am: met+glip
2:45pm: pb& low sugar j on 647 bread (I wasn't hungry... but felt I should eat)
5pm: met+glip; 4 oreo cookies
6:30pm: big piece of chicken parm w/sauce
red wine+diet gingerale
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts

Crazy Random Happenstance

Doug pitched the idea of going out to Front Royal today, rather on the late side. We didn't leave until after noon. We put the dog in the car, and off we went. Doug wanted to go look at a specific neighborhood, which it turns out on paper it looks good but wow. Dirt roads, out in the woods, further out in the woods than it looks like on the map. 

The two houses we did a drive by on were nice. Super nice. Unfortunately, too remote for my liking and I don't want to do this to us. The very first snowfall when Geoff has to leave for school, it is going to suck. 

We went back into town and there are two houses for sale right next door to each other near the private military academy right in town. We walked around the yard and the bells were chiming on campus, and it was very nice, very relaxing. 

Both houses are listed by the same agent, one looks in better shape than the other, but both are being sold "AS IS." And the as is, well it's rather more than I think I'd like an as is to be. 

There's a LOT of potential there but I don't want that. I want move-in ready and hang up Guster posters. Not hire contractors and gut the kitchen because it is from 1972.   

"We bought fixer uppers in the past, and we never really got to fixer uppering on them," I said to Doug.

But our mortgage could be a thousand bucks on one of them. That's tempting. 

We decided to go to another brewery. The dog was being so good, riding in the car and everything, she needed a break. We hit up Backroom Brewery, and it was slightly confusing because they have a BIG function hall that we thought was the taproom, but there was a private event happening there. A tiny little "taproom" sign pointing the way to the back of the property. We were not sure at all we were in the right place, no other cars were there. 

We parked and I got out of the car to go see what the situation was. There was a tiny little sign on the door that said "Taproom" but really, it felt weird. 

A car pulled up behind us, and four people got out. 

I looked at one guy and said "Is this really happening?"

He replied, "I don't know, you tell me."

It was an old co-worker who left our employer back in 2021. Of all people. Right there, deep in the woods, far from everything. 

We hugged and one of his friends said "Oh they really do know each other!" We confused her, she had no idea what was going on. 

I said hi to his husband, who I hadn't seen for years, and met the two friends with them. We went to check out the taproom, with Doug sitting in the car wondering what the hell was going on with me hugging some rando dude in a parking lot. 

The taproom was indeed open, they served food which was important because I was feeling way drained from being out all day driving around hell and half of Appalachia. 

Doug brought Toffee in and there was a nice sitting area where we all hung out. I caught up with my former co-worker, talked a lot about Guster (well, they asked! and he knew exactly what a fangirl I am), and we just had a really sweet visit. 

A little thunderstorm rolled through, we had this hangout space all to ourselves and a wonderful chill time. 

How weird. 

Lost two hours of steps by sitting in the car, and I didn't feel like trying to cram 4k+ steps into the evening once we got home. 

Today is the first day in like 32 days that I didn't knock down 10k steps, so I let it go. 

Here we are. How fun.

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours.   Missed 2 hours while riding in the car. No exercise, 6k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 145
n/a
10:30pm: 119

food:
coffee/water
8am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
11:30am: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j
5pm: 2 beers, bratwurst (skipped the roll) cole slaw
7:30pm: left over chinese food, met+glip; mixed nuts
2 more beers
9:45pm: jardiance 

Bagpipes and Cats

I heard Geoff come upstairs at about 7am, he started the coffee and fed Toffee. She came into the guest room with me, and waited patiently for me to get up and let her outside. She's a world of difference from the other dog. So patient.

At about 7:30 I figured it was important to get out of bed because I had to pee. I've made a little promise to myself to get up and not get back into bed if it is after 7am. Pledge to me kept. 

Doug had to get up by 8 because he took today off to do more errands and work on things for his Aunt. He had a 9am meeting at the local bank branch that has her mortgage. He is trying to get a direct deposit set up for her to pay them, and see if they'll pull a credit report for her. Thankfully she doesn't do business with the Big Bank that we refuse to ever deal with. But this is an equally shady ass giant bank and he's not happy about talking to them.  As I expected, he came back with nothing solved and a lot of anger and frustration over this. He has to get his Aunt and make an appointment in person with her to get what he needs set up. His power of attorney paperwork was fine at the local credit union for getting everything he needed from them, but he is literally trying to make it so her mortgage gets paid and this. fucking. bank. 

So he had to express his frustration loudly, repeatedly, and that's okay. I get it. I hear him. He needs to take her in person to do some things, which he should be able to get done as the power of attorney but some banks are like 'hell yeah, we'll help you,' and other banks are like 'fuck you, you're not the customer.' So he was mad that he has to take yet another day to do things. 

I asked him if he was going to go get her today, but he had a doctor's appointment at 3pm and no. Not driving to Virginia to help her today. 

Geoff cheffed up some dinner. He likes to find these recipes in a braising meat cookbook, It was pretty good, and sometimes I have to supervise but tonight he nailed it. Next time, thicker pork chops would be a good idea. 

Doug took a nap after dinner and I took myself for a walk. Didn't intend to do a whole half hour but it happened,  Down the street from us there is a kid who is learning the bagpipes. Which I'm sure many people would read that and cringe, but, I'm all for it. Sometimes he is out practicing in the front yard while his dad does the gardening. 

I walked past and cheered and told him he is doing GREAT! I'm sure this is so hard but keep it up! The dad had to laugh and smile. 

A cat came running down the sidewalk to see me, and I asked if it was their cat. He said no, and pointed to the neighbors. The neighbors also have a giant Rottweiler named Max, so I said "oh! This is Max's cat." And I stopped to pat it. It walked up the block with me, very sociable, very sweet. 

I was incredibly relieved I didn't have Toffee with me. Not easy walking her around cats. She's horrible. So I got some cat time and it brought me joy. 

I took a picture today but will save it for tomorrow. Digits down below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Indoor walk before starting work, 20 min/.9 miles. Neighborhood walk, 30 min/1.49 miles. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 156
5:15pm: 108
11:45pm: 111

food:
coffee/water
7:30am: phentermine
noon: met+glip
1:30pm: pbj on 647 bread
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: 2 thin pork chops in a sauce with pineapples/onions/orange (geoff found the recipe) and a lot of broccoli. 
9:45pm: jardiance and the rest of the broccoli no one wanted to eat (can't throw broccoli away... sad)
no wine/alcohol

Cloud Talk

On the Simpsons, Bart is hanging out with the bullies and they're shooting the shit, looking at the statue of Jebediah Springfield, and up at the clouds looking for shapes of things. Like, a school bus driving off a cliff, a cherry bomb, the statue of Jebediah Springfield with its head cut off. 

They say it would be so cool to take the head off that statue. So. Bart does it. 

And he shows them the severed head, and they get MAD at him. "That was just cloud talk, man." 

Cloud talk. 

Sometimes we sit around talking about stuff. We do our own version of cloud talk. And other times we get closer to cutting the head off of the statue of the town's founder, the guy who iced a bear with his bare hands. 

Doug and I are looking at houses out around Front Royal. As much as we love just taking a ride out there for a day trip, we had our ulterior motive last weekend.

Now, many of you know what happened to us in 2008 2009, 2010, and even 2014, with our old house, when we were in the middle of a refinance with our mortgage company and a certain bank bought it, and ... well. Things got epically fucked up. 

Doug swore that he would never ever buy another house, that no bank would never ever make a penny on interest from him. Ever. Scorched earth. We've been renting ever since.

The pandemic and post-pandemic ponderings have put him in a different state of mind in regards to housing. We were incredibly happy to be in the house we were in when we first moved here, but the owners wanted to sell so we had to move. We managed to get incredibly lucky and found this house 3 doors down the street in 2021, and moved in here. We didn't want to buy the first house, they didn't even offer us right of first refusal they just told us basically we had to move. But anyway - still. Didn't want to buy it anyway. See Doug / no bank / etc.

When that first house here went up for sale, they asked 400k, and it sold for 443k. I checked zillow and it is now "worth" 540k if they were to put it on the market. That would be a fair price for this area. The house we rent right now is "worth" 557k. It's a great little house, great little neighborhood. But we could never afford to live here. 

I don't feel like this is a half million dollar house. 

So we are pondering these things. Rent forever just to stay here? We don't need to commute into work much. Doug has been in three times this year, I've been in twice so far this year. For Doug to get in, sometimes it is a 2 hour ride to go just a few miles to get to his area of Virgnia. For me, I have the metro so that's easy but it's brutal on him.  

Later this month, I've got to go in for a big meeting for 3 days. And there is a day in July that I know I'll be in the office. Aside from that, thank God both of our employers have not instituted a come back into the building work policy. I may never have to enter the building again. 

And Doug can more easily get to where his office is from out West there, than it is to get there from here. And for me, I can drive to the end of one of the metro lines in Virginia there, and Metro in. It'll take forever but I won't have to try and drive into the city at all, and park at my building. 

So technically, we can live anywhere. My colleagues live in Connecticut, Vermont, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago... Nothing is keeping us in this spot, necessarily.

Doug has recently been just feeling that. It's crowded here, it's busy here. The county is expensive. We don't go into the city much. We're over 7 years into our time here, and he's got that wanderlust. 

So we started looking out at Front Royal. There's a lot to like, as far as "vibes" go. And it is affordable. 

The big huge what-if is Geoff. We decided a couple weeks ago not to bring this up with him just yet, you know, in case this is truly just cloud talk. He started talking to us this morning about what he needs to do to enroll in his Associates Degree program. He is taking two prerequisites right now, and the semester is coming to an end so he is thinking it's time to fill out the enrollment process thingie...At the school he's currently attending. 

So Doug and I both figured, now's the time to talk to him about this. 

He took it much better than I thought he would, and MUCH better than 2017. We explained all our justifications. We make DC money but can live out west, it isn't that far away. In fact, if he still wanted to go to the school he goes to, he can. It's an hour drive door to door, but it's already an hour drive door to door with how close we live. 

And, he can transfer. There's a great community college right near where we'd move, and he could enroll there and continue this exact program. He went downstairs with his lunch and came back to talk about driving and commuting and colleges. 

We also showed him that the Shenandoah River has some of the best kayaking, canoeing, tubing in the east. 

"You could go tubing and drink a beer," says Doug.

"That's not safe," says Geoff. 

Hilarious when I think of all these hoards of college students who go on a float with a cooler on its own air mattress. He's still such a Boy Scout, isn't he?

The only thing he'd have to do is decide when to quit his job, when we know what we're doing. And we told him this is all still cloud talk so don't mention it to his boss. He gets it. 

I feel like we all had a really good resolution to that conversation. 

I took myself on a walk while we waited for chinese food delivery. Didn't feel like taking Toffee and having her pull and sniff and drag. I just wanted to listen to the playlist and go. After dinner, I still needed 3,000 steps so... I took her out for a walk to knock down that number. 

Funny, when Dahlia was here, and she was on house arrest, I'd walk her around the house in the morning, several times. And do that several times during the day. Hitting 2k by noon was never a problem. 3k by 3, boom. Today at 5pm I was only at about 4k and I couldn't believe how far behind I was. Gotta up my game during the day so I don't need two walks. 

It was hot out today, mid 80s, humid. We put the AC on at about 5pm. First time this year. 

I was surprised at how well I tolerated the heat when doing both walks. It didn't almost kill me. So I'm feeling improved in so many ways lately. The cat in his picture though, it ws looking for respite anywhere and meowed at me when I said hi. 

I got a nice shower at about 10pm, I never ever shower before bed, but I would have been miserable trying to fall asleep tonight and catching whiffs of my pits. Ha.

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  2 walks. One solo, 24 min/1.15 miles. one with Toffee, 26 min/1.14 miles. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 135
4:30pm: 155
11pm: 195

food:
coffee/water
7:30am: phentermine
9:15am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb and bonnie maman's cherry preserves
1:45pm: protein shake
5pm: met+glip
7:30pm: chinese food (general tso's chicken, hunan beef, a little combo rice, 1 spring roll, 3 peking ravioli) 
no wine/alcohol 
10pm: jardiance