Squishy Squeeky Stuffy Toys

Yesterday a box came for me in the mail. I was surprised. Doug asked me if I knew anyone in XYZ New Jersey and I had no idea who this was. 

I opened the box, and it was FULL of boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and a beautiful hand written kid note from "Quinn" thanking me for the Tiny Desk. 

Um.

My memory sucks sometimes. 

She had pictures of Guster's "Big Friend," so at first I thought it was just a thanks for helping set up their Tiny Desk (which honestly, I wasn't responsible for). 

Then I remembered a mom from the Guster fan group who emailed me last year to ask if I could give a tour of the office to her and her 8 year old daughter. I had already moved and I think I was even away at the time. So I could not, but I connected her with one of my team members who is always in the office to do a tour, and, there was a Tiny Desk that day which my co-worker suggested they go to. 

Quinn is a musician, and she was very interested in Tiny Desk. She'd watched Guster's many times, and watched many others so even though the artist who was there the day of their visit was someone they had no exposure to, she was thrilled to witness. 

15 minutes or so, but an impression to last a lifetime. Mom emailed me later to let me know that Quinn was buzzing on this for days. "Someday, I'll play the Tiny Desk," she declared. 

One of her favorite radio shows is From the Top, which is younger kid musicians play

I'm all for it, Quinn. 

So this surprise box of joy that arrived was a surprise. Mom doesn't use her "real" name on Facebook, so this was a little bit of a challenge for me to piece together to figure it all out. 

They also sent gifts for Toffee, which was so sweet. The cookies were lovely and there were some stuffies for her to play with. 

We know the Toffee vs. Stuffies adventures. I gave her one of the toys and she obliterated it. Hilariously. I sent a bunch of pictures to mom this morning, and they both thought it was hilarious. I think Quinn was a little sad for the destruction but I told her that stuffies are an investment in happiness, joy, entertainment. And even though they don't last long, Toffee sure does love the experience. 

Before and after pictures, below.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Somehow missed 8pm, I think I was loading the dishwasher.  Treadmill, 31 solid fast minutes, almost broke 14 min mile average. 2.21 miles. 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 130
4:15pm: 142
10:30pm: 139 

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake in my coffee
1:45pm: leftover creamy chicken stuff w/a few potato chunks; met+glip 
6pm: 2 sausages w/sauce and cheese, and a roll with butter
white wine
8pm: about 6 thin mint girl scout cookies
8:30pm: Met+glip
9:30pm: bowl of popcorn 

The Sentimental Type

When we bought our house, the previous owners had a lot of kids. Like, 6 I think. Our yard is full of toys and toy parts. 

I'm not exaggerating. There are hundreds of tiny plastic toy pieces are all over the place yard, from legos, and cars, and hair clips. Mardi Gras beads, a couple of crocs/sandals. It is kind of unbelievable. Doug goes out and finds things, brings them in and puts them into my houseplants. There are little trucks, and rubber ducks (sounds like song lyrics there!) 

All left behind, forgotten, unwanted. Makes me really think that kids maybe don't need toys if 90% of the parts of them are going to be abandoned in the yard. Where are the rest of the toy? Did they move? And these 9 lego pieces are left behind? 

One of the other things they left behind are these cute round garden circle tiles that look as if they were made as part of a summer program or Vacation Bible School or something. We have four of them. I took a picture of one while planting the bulbs.

It kind of makes me sad. I wonder if mom just forgot they were there, or if she just to be honest was not fond of them? 

I have an incredible soft spot in my heart for kid art. I have boxes and boxes of stuff my kids painted and made over the years going back to early elementary school. I have saved everything Hen has drawn for me. My favorite is when he writes "Hi Christine,  it's me! Henry!" on things. Like I don't know this is from Hen.

I admired the little circles and I'm kind of happy they are here even if they were not made for me by my own kids. 

That's another piece of sentimentality for me, the bulbs. I thought about how I had planted a dozen or so bulbs that Doug's dad dug up for us back in 2015 and brought to us at Geoff's graduation. I put them in front of the porch at our last place in West Newbury, and I don't even know if they are still there since the house got rebuilt and refurbished. 

I hope they are. I hope very soon they pop their little heads up and the new homeowners or renters love them. I kind of wanted to go by and knock on the door and ask if I could dig them up. but I thought better of it. And I hope ours come up happy. It is supposed to get super cold tonight and I'm worried. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Toffee walk for 15 min, back home to finish on the treadmill, 30 min total/1.53 miles 10k+ by bedtime (slacker!!).

blood glucose:

7:30am: 119
4:30pm: 146
10pm: 186 

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
12:30pm: met+glip
2:45pm: apple w/pb 
6:30pm: steak marinaded by Geoff, slice of homemade beer bread; big salad
7:30pm: about 6 thin mints
8:15pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Not as much done

We started off this morning the usual way, coffee, toffee, tv, phone games. We had ordered a microwave to replace the one we've had for 8 years that started giving off wicked smells and some smoke (bye, you were used almost every day for 8 years, friend. Thank you for your service). 

The box sat in the living room for days (not weeks, just days) and I knew Geoff would need it before too long for dinner prep and snacks. We got her unpacked and on the counter. Counter got a deep clean. She's fancy. She makes music. I have a microwave that plays tunes. Hilarious. 

Then, I started to organize pots, and measured the front porch for the redwood table. 

Doug came out and looked at his tape measure on the ground - a placeholder/visual so he could see how big the table was edge to edge (58 inches). He said it wouldn't work, it was going to be too big. But I thought we could just try it. 

He got it pulled out of the car port, set it up, got the three benches, it fits. It looks good. 

So far, he likes it too. She needs a cleaning so the internet gave me some advice on how to properly clean redwood patio furniture. I'll look into doing that tomorrow. 

After futzing with the table, chilling out front, and talking about pots and stuff, I asked if we were going to buy flowers. 

He looked at me funny. "On a Sunday? Places are gonna be mobbed! No!" 

Well then, sir, when do we go get flowers if not a Saturday, when places are also going to be mobbed, or a Sunday when places are going to be mobbed? 

It started to feel like we weren't going to go out on an adventure or anything, so I said I was going to go on the treadmill. He said, "Well, no how about we go for a walk?" He suggested a revisit to Gathland where we went in November last year for a walk. I thought that sounded great, and I was ready to go. The dog was ready to go. Geoff was even going to come (shock).

And then he said he didn't feel well, and we did a pivot with him napping and me on the treadmill. After all. I think that's really why he didn't want to go buy flowers. Just not feeling well, and not feeling up to shenanigans at a nursery.

Geoff went and picked up milk, and a few other sundry items needed around the house. Toffee didn't get a walk, so I feel bad. If Geoff doesn't take her tomorrow, I'll get a loop in with her. 

Linda and I checked in for a long call, and then my phone died. Timing was right because dinner was ready. 

All told, not the most productive day ever but yeah, we did stuff. A balanced weekend, one could say. 

I have some pictures but they need explaining, so I'll just post this and save those for tomorrow. 

Digits! Below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 32 min/2.19 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 135
4:30pm: 91
10:30pm: 117 

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: small zero carb wrap w/cream cheese and sliced turkey; met+glip
6:30pm: pasta primavera, 6 buffalo wings from the pizza parlor re-cooked on the grill
vodka+zero sugar lemonade
8:30pm: met+glip

Bulbs

When Doug went to his mom's in the fall, he brought home a gianormous box of daffodil bulbs that were dug up from his childhood home. He and his sister split them, and received a really good sized box full. 

They sat in the mud room all winter, waiting. I thought we should have planted them around Thanksgiving but we didn't. Then winter came. Then it has been super cold and stupid out there so we didn't. 

Doug opened the box and the daffodils were starting to sprout. We thought hey - if we don't get them into the ground, they do not stand a chance. They won't make it through spring in this box. 

First thing to happen was Doug took down the bird feeders. You know winter is over when those get put away. It makes me sad, because I love to sit and watch them but it's true - birds need to eat bugs all damn summer so don't feed 'em! Then we prepped the side gardens of the house. We wanted to split the bulbs up evenly between the left and right sides of the porch. I started on the side closest to the driveway. I had no idea what I was doing - I just grabbed a trowel, dug a hole, dropped a bunch in, rotated my butt, dug another hole. 

When I felt about half of the bulbs were in on that side I went to the other side. The plantings over there are different, we used google lens to determine what was growing and how to handle the dead stalks and flowers, and Doug cut things down and back, pulled out what looked to be a wooden baby gate that was trying to be a trellis for something to grow up, which never did.  

There was bark mulch on that side of the porch but not the other, so that was a little bit odd. And there was that stupid black landscaping fabric which I couldn't dig through, could not penetrate, did not want to deal with. We agreed okay, go around the side of the house and put some over there around the window wells (Geoff's bedroom and the storage room). And I still had bulbs left over, so I went back to the area I started with, and put the rest there. 

Doug went to Lowes and got some spray paint for these two huge planters we got 2 years ago from one of my co-workers when she was moving. He thought they could use some livening up, so. He spraypainted while I planted. 

He fixed the leg of the picnic table he brought back from his mom's. It broke in transit, and had been sitting in the car port since arriving. We got that all situated, and we're trying to decide where to keep it. I would like it on the front porch, he thinks it is too big. We'll tape measure and discuss tomorrow. 

He also swept the carport up, where the squirrels made a giant feast of the 8 boxes of black walnuts he had harvested, and then he never received the nutcracker he ordered in November (they canceled the order on him. We think it has to do with imports and tariffs). I was thankful he did that because it made me scream internally every time I walked past the disaster of shells and ripped boxes. I think there are still 2 boxes worth of walnuts back there - maybe he'll renew his vigor and get a nutcracker from somewhere that will fucking deliver one to us. 

Geoff went to the market, got stuff for burgers and he said "oh this was a great idea tonight," as he wolfed down his dinner. 

Tis the Season for grillin', babe. 

Oh, he gets SUPER mad at me when I call him babe. I asked why he was mad about that. He pointed at Doug and said that's your husband, call him Babe, not me!  I asked what he wanted me to call him. He said nothing. You don't have to call me anything. 

"Okay, shithead." 

Doug thought that was hilarious. 

We relaxed on the front porch for quite a while. She's coming along. 

While Doug was at Lowes I did my "mile" which was a mile and a half, and, because of all the shit tons of walking outside all day I went over 14k steps for the day. 

I hurt everywhere. 

Doug said "well, you were using limbs you don't use while running in a straight line on the treadmill," and this is true. My elbows. My lower back, shoulders, neck. Oooof. Today was a workout. 

Not sure what tomorrow's shenanigans are. I do want to get flowers for all the pots we have, do a bit of an audit over coffee while Doug watches the stupid morning news. Our realtor suggested a nursery in Pennsylvania, but they are not open on Sundays. And Doug said he didn't really feel like driving up there when plenty of people around here have plenty of flowers we can buy. 

So, we'll see. 

Took a ton of pictures today. Digits are below. 

Before we got started: 

Daffodil Party Time and Spraypaint Party Time

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   Lots and lots of steps! Treadmill, 22 min/1.52 miles; 14k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 140
4:30pm: 128
9:30pm: 142 

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: 2 small brekkie burritos w/scrambled eggs, bacon, shredded cheddar on zero carb wraps
12pm: met+glip
6:30pm: one cheeseburger on bed of baby greens and tomatoes, w/bleu cheese dressing and a couple french fries
7:30pm: big piece of carrot cake (she's almost gone!)
8pm: met+glip
white wine

Chuck Norris Jokes

The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Chuck Norris, has passed away. If you believe that. He didn't die, he got promoted to the Grim Reaper. This is all fake news - Death would not DARE. 

He was born the same year as my dad, and Doug's dad. Our dads would be 86 this year if they were still around. 

Hearing of his passing today, I was remembering a camping trip with Geoff and the Scouts. Chuck Norris jokes were very big with the Troop. They'd tell jokes and laugh and laugh, fall over laughing. 

A couple of the boys were rather on the young side of things so I asked "Do you guys know who Chuck Norris is? Have you seen any of his movies?" The older lads answered in the affirmative but one of the boys in Geoff's grade said "Wait, what? He's an actor?" 

I had to smile. "Yes! He is an actor and he's famous for kung fu movies and for kicking butt and taking names, and a hairy chest, and his Roundhouse kick." 

The boy said "Oh, I had no idea, I just thought the jokes were funny, like there's an actual guy that tough in the world." 

I guess I could see that, and then yes, even if you didn't know him the jokes would be hilarious if you were like 11. 

After that camping trip I said something to his dad about how his son could probably use a good Chuck Norris marathon and learn all about him. Dad agreed and said he'd bring the boy up to speed with a few good flicks. 

It was kind of fun to hearken back to those memories, and then see all the new Chuck Norris jokes flowing in on the internet in honor of his passing. 

Nothing else today, got a good treadmill run in which was nice. Didn't like the dinner I ordered so I compensated with one slice of pizza a big piece of carrot cake and a high blood glucose by bedtime. 

It'll come down tomorrow. 

Digits down there. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill 30 min/2.08 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 160
4:45pm: 100
10pm: 264 *see dinner

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake in the coffee through the morning
1:45pm: bowl of salad w/tuna mayonnaise; met+glip
6:30pm: slice of pizza, big piece of carrot cake
8pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Maple Sausage and the Impromptu Brekkie

Since I ate very little for dinner last night and didn't snack on anything snacky around 8pm like I sometimes do, I woke up around 3am rather hungry. Blast. Damn. Argh. 

I went to the bathroom, and Doug had already gone downstairs at some point. Toffee has been sleeping up  in his face lately, and I guess it was too much, and too in the middle, and too taking over the bed for him so he was in the guest room. 

She had her head on his pillow. Total takeover. 

After I finished in the bathroom, I got back in my bed and put on a podcast. I was thinking about breakfast already. I knew we had a package of sausage links in the freezer so I was psyched to recall that. I don't usually make breakfast during the week but I knew I'd have to today. Protein shake mixed in my coffee over a 4 hour period (it works for me) wasn't going to cut it. 

Doug was already up when Toffee and I came down. I offered to make breakfast for him and he was excited for that. I opened the freezer and the sausage links were.... maple. flavored. 

I'm so not a fan. Not a fan of artificial maple "flavoring" in things. If I want maple in association with my sausages, it is syrup on a stack of pancakes and the sausages taking a direct hit. 

Blah. 

But I wanted sausages. Suck it up buttercup and get to making. Doug was game for breakfast too so I made him 2 eggs over hard. Our non-stick pan is nice but the flipping of eggs is literally impossible in that thing. I have to either find a different tool or develop better skills. 

Sausages sizzlin', eggs makin' it felt like a Saturday morning but I already should have been at work. 

For myself, I cut up 3 sausages, wilted a bunch of greens in a tiny bit of butter, 2 eggs, probably should have done 3 because of the surface area of the pan but. And a hefty amount of goat cheese mixed in. The sausages got dropped in there, and the omelet was a disaster in flipping but it was a delicious mess. 

Maybe I should do this more often. 

Geoff came upstairs and saw I was at work on my brekkie so I asked if he wanted something. He asked for scrambled. 

Now that works in this pan, really well. 3 eggs, a little milk, salt & pepper. boom. 

Everyone had a meal. Everyone had nice breakfast. The day got its big begin. Maybe I should do this more often. And the maple sausages were not the damn worst thing I've ever had. I survived.

I've also been thinking a lot about french toast or pancakes. I bought some Kodiak high-protein pancakes and those are in the freezer. Perhaps I'll break into those this weekend and give them a try. 

We had some carrots in the fridge that were in danger of not being too good for much longer. I had been threatening to make a carrot cake so. In between meetings I picked a recipe that claimed it was the most moist and delicious carrot cake recipe ever. 

It wasn't too complicated, except I didn't have crushed pineapple I had "tidbits" which were not the same. I should have kept some of the pineapple juice in the mix. It wasn't as crazy moist as the recipe told me it was going to be. A little dry. But. The only carrot cake I had in front of me today. 

I also cannot find my 9" round pans. I have no idea where they are so I just ordered another set. I found my springform pan, but that's not the right tool for carrot cake. Since I couldn't find the rounds, I used a big glass rectangle baking dish. So we had a SLAB of carrot cake. I'm not joking. 

I make a really simple/easy cream cheese frosting and the recipe I used made a lot of it. Probably good for if you had a layered carrot cake, or a million carrot cake muffins. Oooooo. I should have made muffins. 

There are days when, between Geoff and me, we basically dirty up every bowl and plate and mixing tool and whatever that we own. Today was one of those days and it wasn't even a weekend day. 

With Breakfast though, she felt like it. She really did. 

My blood sugar is a little elevated, I expected much worse than the reading I got at 10pm. And I'll try not to have carrot cake for breakfast. Although, tempting. 

No picture today, I have one but it is on my phone and the phone is over there and .... meh. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2.10 mi. (would have kept going but i needed to get some more work done!) 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 130
4:30pm: 111
10pm: 163

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
9am: 2 egg "omelet" w/wilted greens, goat cheese, and 3 sausages
2pm: met+glip
6:45pm: roasted potatoes w/onion (not a lot); geoff's chicken in mushroom gravy slow cooker dealie (very very good)
8:30pm: large piece of carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting; met+glip
no alcohol 

The flora and the fauna and the Hoover

This morning, I let Toffee out after feeding her and I started the coffee. While the water was running into the pitcher I looked out to the yard and the tree line, and noticed a large brown lump. A tall lump. Curious. 

My vision is kind of shitty anymore, so I had on my readers for the in-close work of making the coffee and they don't do well with any sort of distance. I took them off, and still I couldn't tell what the thing was.

Until I looked next to it at the shiny beautiful green lump. 

Oh. Mallard Ducks! 

I poured the water into the coffeemaker and grabbed my phone and slid on my shitkicker shoes. It's freezing out so where's my jacket! Here's my jacket. 

Then I pondered .... where's Toffee? 

Coming to the back door, she was standing there like a statue. Perfectly still, tail up, looking. And they were looking back at her. 

When I stepped out on the porch it was like I granted her permission to jet. I wanted her to stay put so I could get a picture but nope - rocket launcher Toffee went flying out to the yard and the ducks took off. 

There were three, the male and female that I initially saw and another female off to the left. All three took flight, up over my yard and carport, quacking and fussing with disapproval. Toffee was then on total yard patrol. Not just her usual patrol but every inch of the property. How very dare they come and hang out in her yard! 

After Doug woke up, I told him about this event and he tilted his head to the side and said "How odd." Indeed. 

We don't have a pond. There is no nearby creek. I said I wondered if they had a nest in the tree line but that wouldn't make sense because there's nowhere to teach wee babies how to swim. We figured they most likely were just resting. Lord knows how many times in life I personally have just needed a place on a journey to plop down and rest. 

And they chose our yard. How odd indeed. 

We also have an orange cat that comes around. I have not seen her since before the winter. But she's back (I will assume she. I don't know). I caught a glimpse of her walking in front of the french doors in the mud room when I was doing my treadmilling the other day. And this morning she was walking around our cars, under the bird feeder. Doug hates outdoor cats because they kill birds. 

If you've never seen this from The Oatmeal, I suggest you go check it out. Informative infographic. 

But I like cats even if they are efficient little killing machines. I'm happy to see her back and around, the little orange monster. She's got some bravery if she's walking around in front of the french doors because that's where Toffee sits to monitor the squirrel situation by the bird feeders. 

And in other news, my bestie, my girl C, had to say goodbye to the goodest boy today and it brought me big sads. Hoover was 11, and he exceeded the "expected" life span of a big old English Bulldog. C has had a few of these guys over the years, but Hoo loved me. I was his couch buddy at camp. He very much enjoyed my company, and I his. I should go through my pictures and pull up some good ones. 

One of my fave Hoover memories was the night before I moved to Maryland. I had left the old place, and spent the night with C. She made me waffles and white russians at 11:30pm. Because she was worried that I had not eaten. She was right to worry. And you know you have a great friend when she whips out kitchen appliances and mixes cocktails for you after a grueling couple days. 

Hoover and her other dog Clara were THRILLED to see me. And I remember fondly at one point sitting on the loveseat in the kitchen, with Hoover next to me and Clara sitting on my feet while C cheffed things up. I still can't believe that was 2017. 

I'm going to miss the tank-sized marshmallow that Hoover was. I'll miss couch cuddles with coffee and Porch Life. 

I know she's heartbroken, and I think back on all the dogs that have wandered through my own life, I miss each and every one. Honestly. It stays with you, it sticks with you. That love and that bond. And it makes you a better person, no matter the circumstances. 

Thanks Hoo for being wonderful.  

I wasn't going to post this picture, because I am not pleased with the big round belly on me and it was literally first thing in the morning so one does look a mess, doesn't one? But. It's a reminder of where I was. And what a special wonderful time it always is at camp on the porch with dogs. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 25min/1.67 mi. Cut it short because of work messages. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 108
4:30pm: 167
10pm: 119

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake mixed with all my coffee through the morning
1:45pm: english muffin w/pb and low sugar jelly. Last of the potato salad (less than 1 cup) from the other night. met+glip
6pm: bowl of fettuccini w/meat sauce. Geoff didn't make a lot of sauce so I kept my pasta portion small. Thankfully
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol 

Sorry I'm late for work

I woke up early and got the coffee ready. Toffee came downstairs a few minutes later, her hearing is great especially with anything happening in "The Food Room" as we call it. And she says "oh! Breakfast!" So I got her fed, and outside. I did my morning routine things and heard her back on the porch ready to come in. She's so polite and quiet, I just hear her shake her head and her ears flap. 

Unlike my neighbors' dogs who bark incessantly. I'll bitch about that another day. 

She came in and ran to the loveseat, where I sit and work and stood there and stared at me until I came and sat down. She is a demanding taskmaster. Get to work Christine! And by work, we mean cuddling under a blanket!

It is chilly in here this morning, we went from mid 70s to the low 20s in about 12 hours. Her ears were cold, so I snuggled her into the fleecie and realized I probably should have grabbed the laptop first. Ope.

Well. It was super early, after all. I mean way too early to REALLY start working so. Let's snuggle. 

My coffee got cold. I had to pee. 

But.

I really didn't want to ruin this. 

I've said it before but I really wonder what her life was like before she was rescued by the humane society in DC. She snored peacefully, I drank coffee, I patted her head and ears. I enjoyed being her safe place. I wish all dogs had safe places. 

I had one meeting today with a very lovely client who is unfortunately the only person full time employed at his outfit. Everyone else is part time, or volunteer. So he does the lion's share of all the things. He made some catastrophic errors in one of the applications, so I showed him what he did, and how we are going to fix this. I say we, because I'm helping him divide and conquer and rebuild. 

My manager always tells me to not do things like this, it is their responsibility. But he actually won't be able to get it done. Not because I don't believe in him but because there are not enough hours in the day, week, month for this poor guy to do this. 

I'm just that way, I guess. 

I did take a break and hit the treadmill. I got my blood test results and my A1c is still 6. It was 6 in november and it is 6 today. 

I feel like since November, this should have dipped some? Maybe? especially with the running and nonsense like that. And the serious scaling back on the alcohol over the last 6 months. 

Meh? 

Well. I got it out of the way and I won't need to be retested for a while. My optimism glasses say "hey, at least it didn't go UP!, right?" 

Time for more cuddles. Lots to do tomorrow for work. Digits below my work delay machine. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 30 min/2.12 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 153
5pm: 130
10pm: 163

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
8am: protein shake mixed in coffee 
11:30pm: small bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of spicy rice w/ground beef (a geoff specialty)
7pm: ramekin of candied cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Jesus on the Radio Day

Today was the big day for that client website launch. 10am my time, 9am theirs. I was anxious about this one because it was a very complicated site with a lot of nonsense. It went swimmingly, fast, wonderfully. Big victory. 

Before the site launch I realized there were a few things that I forgot to do for the client, so I whipped them together quickly. I'm sometimes amazed at what I can get done when I can focus, and panic. 

The rest of the day was busy with meetings and didn't get everything done. I was going to go get bloodwork done but a meeting got put on my calendar at 2pm so that kind of monkey wrenched everything. I couldn't leave here at 3 and get there on time. 

Plus, it was supposed to storm. And storm horribly. "Any second now" all day long. But then it didn't. We were supposed to get giant thunderstorms and hail and possible tornadoes. 

Tomorrow. I will make time in the morning before the meetings start. It's overdue. Well, as long as the interstate isn't iced over because ... temperatures are doing their temperature thing right now.

While Geoff was cooking dinner, I checked the radar and there was a break in the rain. Toffee was being a pest so I grabbed her, got the harness, and took her out for a walk. She did pretty good until she saw a cat, and then I could not get her to comply or walk for over a block. Stupid cat. It just sat there and looked at us. Gah. 

Got an upper body workout dealing with her. It wasn't as long a walk as I wanted so I ended up on the treadmill to make more time and steps and distance up. 

Our temperature went from the upper 70s all day with the storm and storm front weather, and at 10pm, it was snowing lightly and 34 degrees and falling. Tomorrow it isn't going to get over 35. And by Friday in the 60s, Saturday and Sunday 70. That time of year, I guess. 

Oh. Today is March 16th which is, of course, Jesus on the Radio day for Guster fans. Guster sends out a text to fans in honor of their own song on their day. It is cute that they are in on it with everyone. I love these guys. 

I was not awake at 5am, but I did wake up at 6:30am and laughed when I saw this. And I did. I listened to a couple different versions. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks. one with Toffee 25 min/1.25 mi. treadmill 20 min/1.31 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 163
4:14pm: 94
10pm: 177

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine 
noon: protein shake (mixed in coffee)
2pm: met+glip
4:30pm: ramekin of candied cashews 
6:30pm: chicken penne fra diavlo
9pm: met+glip
no alcohol

a 5k inside

I was going to write today about how offensive Irish Car Bombs and Black & Tans are but I've taken a complete shellacking on social media for saying that those are both offensive. So I'll just keep my thoughts to myself here in my blog. 

But seriously, please don't. Don't do that if you own a bar or restaurant. Just don't.

Anyway, today I set out to do a half hour on the treadmill. Usually I'm able to get a little over 2 miles when I set that goal but today it was a different vibe. I was paying attention to the playlist and went past 30 minutes. Then my brain sometimes isn't happy if I try to stop on a time that isn't an increment of 5. So I had to go to 35 minutes. 

I was partway through a song at 35 minutes and my brain wouldn't let me stop partway through the song. So let's go to 40? maybe? 

At about 45 minutes, I looked at how far I'd gone, and it was 2.88 miles. 

Which screamed to me, you can... keep going to 3.1 miles which is 5k. 

There was a 5k in town yesterday, and I didn't want to sign up even though one of my community member challenge friends tried to encourage me. I told her I wasn't ready for a 5k. But here I was, pushing myself to go to 5k. and I did it.

I have never run this far or for this long, continuously, without stopping, and it felt like winning. 

I was making potato salad and prepping dinner, and Doug took Toffee to the dog park. I would have gone too, but boiling the eggs and cooking the bacon deserved attention. 

We grilled the last of the steak tips that Jess brought down at New Years, and now I'm sad. Now Jess has to come back and visit with more. 

All told it was a great day. Lots of fun. Big achievements. 

Tomorrow is a very full day. A very early client site launch and a ton of deliverables expected of me. And we're supposed to be pummeled with horrible storms in the afternoon. whee! Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 47.55 min/3.1 miles. 14k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 122
4:30pm: 136
9:30pm: 110

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine 
11:30am: asiago bagel w/ cream cheese and turkey
2:30pm: met+glip
5pm: some tasty home made potato salad, for tasting
6:30pm: steak tips and more home made potato salad
7pm: piece of cherry cheesecake
8pm: met+glip
white wine

A Day of Errands and Beers

I woke up at 7am, and had to pee. So, my rule is, if it is after like 6:30, you're up for the day friendo. Doug had gone to the guest room at some point, and so I came down with Toffee and did the usual morning things. Pee, make the coffee, let the dog out, drink the coffee, play the phone game. I was going to load the dishwasher but Doug was still asleep in the guest room so I kept it quiet. 

Around 11am I did load the dishwasher and made a bit of noise but he continued to sleep. I was kind of surprised. He never sleeps this late. Eventually, he came out and said that he was awake most of the night but eventually came down and fell asleep on the guest bed. And just ... slept all the sleeps. All of them.

I did the treadmill, and took a shower. He told me he wanted to go run errands and asked if I wanted to join, so, yes please. 

We went to Lowes and had fun. He needed silicone spray to lube the treadmill belt, and wanted some caulk and a sharp scraper dealie to remove the caulk currently in the tub. We also got some paint samples for the bathroom. 

Then over to the dutch market. It was pie day (3.14) today but we got a cherry cheesecake instead. The place was mobbed because they close at 4 and all the bargains are up for grabs when there is a little time left. 

I wanted to head into downtown to the better brewery to see the St. Patricks Shenanigans and music, but he wanted to drive north on Rte 11 and just see what was what. 

We went up to Greencastle, PA and then over to Waynesboro (edited, I had Wellsboro initially). I told him that I thought the Rough Edges Brewery was over here and sure enough we drove right past it. 

We turned around and went in, and I was surprised to see there wasn't a lot going on. No big shenanigans, music, green everywhere. 

The beer was good, late lunch wasn't that great but I was hungry, but again, the beer was good. It was fun being out. And we were surprised on the way home that this was only about 15 miles from our house. 

There is so much so close to our house that sometimes it is just wild. 

The friend I've made through the challenge walk did a 5k today and tried to talk me into it. I'm not ready. She said I am. I truly feel that I am not. And this morning was very cold and windy so I am glad I didn't go. Proud of her though.

Another time. Maybe. 

Here are some pictures. I liked the neon inside the Rough Edges Brewery. And the snowman above with Jesus on it especially entertained me. And the Turnips! sign made both me and Doug laugh really hard. TURNIPS! 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill for 20 min/1.43 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 109
n/apm: n/a
9:30pm: 169

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine 
1pm: met+glip
2pm: bowl of chicken salad
5pm: beers and buffalo chicken flatbread (not that great)
7pm: slab of cherry cheesecake, met+glip

Bruise and New Growth

A few days ago at the dog park, a bunch of dogs got into a fracas, Toffee among them. I reached in to grab her by the harness and pull her back. 

Another dog went to bite her, like dogs do, but contacted the back of my hand. No skin broken, no harm no foul, no big deal. We got them all settled down and sent them to their corners. I thought nothing of it. 

Until yesterday, when I noticed the bruise. 

I do bruise easily thanks to being on blood thinners, but wow, this is epic. The entire back of my right hand is mottled. Yikes and wow. 

So when people go at Trumpf about his bruises, he takes a butt ton of baby aspirin, and maybe he's on some other medications, but yeah - I can see it being a thing if he bumps he bruises. Probably the only sympathetic thing you'll hear me say about him. 

Wondering how long it'll take for this to clear. The picture doesn't even do this justice, to be honest. You'd have to see it in person to believe this one. 

In other news, back in November my friend H gave me a monstera cutting. I thought it maybe wasn't doing well, the leaves are a bit curled in, and maybe the edges are browned. I water her. I take care of her. I'm worried about her. I feel like I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. 

But today I noticed this shoot coming off one of the dealies, and it is a leaf. It started to unfurl through the day today and it is glorious and beautiful. So okay, I am doing something right. I just need to figure out how to make her thrive. 

Anyway, got myself a little off kilter today. Missed my meds at 1 and took them late. I fell asleep watching TV after dinner. I never do that. Anyway. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Fell asleep on the couch and missed 7pm. Treadmill run, 30 min/2.06 mi. Finished up the 10k for the day on the treadmill, 16 min/.82 mi.  10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 122
5pm: 130
10:15pm: 149

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: big bowl of homemade chicken salad w/ grapes, walnuts. 
3:30pm: met+glip (forgot to take at 1) 
6:30pm: big bowl of chili by Geoff w/corn chips, shredded cheddar
9:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Early Morning Banana Bread

The windows were wide open all night, the fan blowing. Comfortable cool, resulting in a good night's sleep. 

I'm not sure what time they came by but the trash truck did its thing, noisily, somewhere around 4am? That's okay, I can fall back asleep. Also, I'm not mad. They bust their asses, and it is pouring out so, bless them for all they do that I don't have to, ya know? 

At about 5:30am, my neighbors' dogs (the beagle monster hounds) went out and barked their fool heads off, and that one I could not recover from. I got up, and Toffee joined me. We headed downstairs. My brain was spinning about work stuff. 

I need to do an audit of all the help documentation for the product that is retiring, and replace those help documents with new help documents for the product we are rolling out to take its place. 

That, also, I could not get "Yeah" by Usher out of my head. "She asked for one more dance, and I'm like Yeah, how the hell am I supposed to leave... and I said doot da doot doo dooda doooda doooo." 

Downstairs to make the coffee and feed the Toffee. 

She wolfed her brekkie down and I started the bean brew. I opened the door to let her out, and she stood on the porch for a while surveying the situation. I see a lot of things online where people post about their Pitties/mixes who hate the rain and this girl is right with them. 

She went, though. She must have really had to go because rain is like acid and poison to her.... But she came right back immediately. 

I had loaded the dishwasher last night after dinner, but there were still a lot of dishes in the sink. And we know I hate going to bed with dishes in the sink but I was in no mood for hand washing. After I went to bed though, Geoff unloaded the dishwasher at some point. Nice! So I the dishwasher was loaded up (still more dishes but they can wait). 3 hour cycle, they'll be done by 9ish. 

Coffee and phone game time, and big cuddles and snuggles in the still, quiet, dark living room with the Toff until about 7. I had wrapped her in a blanket because she was damp. She enjoyed that greatly and snored away. 

What next. 

There were four bananas on the counter, telling me they were ready to transform into delicious banana bread. Okay then. That's an hour long baking cycle with a 10 minute prep. Let's go. Hand mixing is hard for me anymore, so I got out the little machine, let her do all the work and prayed it was not so noisy that it disturbed Doug's sleep.  

Doug was not disturbed. 

The banana bread came out perfectly, I was already working and doing things well before 7:30am. Still working on helping that client out with the Google thing, and a couple other big setups and comms. 

I drafted a great email for the product testing an my Work Son sent it for me. Folks are excited! I'm excited. 

Oh! Fitbit sent me this cute graphic yesterday about the miles I've walked. I feel like they used to send these little landmark graphis like "you've walked all the length of Florida!" So it feels good to have walked through the middle of the earth since I started using a fitbit in, I think, 2014? 

Digits, below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 32 min/2.11 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

6am: 91
4:45pm: 160
10pm: 135

food & meds:
6am: jardiance+phentermine
8:30am: banana bread slice
2pm: english muffin w/pb and regular sugar j; met+glip
3pm: atkins protein bar
6pm: bowl of rotini pasta and alfredo chicken (a la Geoff) 
7pm: ramekin candied cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
white wine

Storms and Storms

It was roasting hot last night. We had the windows open, and I brought a small fan upstairs. We don't have the AC in the window yet and there is only one little vent dealie in our bedroom anyway, so putting on the house AC doesn't make much of a dent up there. 

It is supposed to be 37 degrees on Saturday, chance of snow. So we're holding off on actually putting in the AC a bit. 

I didn't sleep that well. Thankfully Toffee wasn't flush up against me being hot. There was some sleep, just not enough sleep.  

I had a stupid crazy busy day today with meetings all up and down the calendar starting at 9:30. I didn't get a shower before the first meeting and well ... some days are like that. 

We have a client site launch on Monday and I am working like mad to help the person doing all the work get things set up. She is such a trooper. We ran into a snag with Google AdManager and the stupid required AdSense that you have to sign up with first. We've been fighting with this product for a couple weeks at this rate and my Work Son had a breakthrough realization on something, and boom - we got the verification to go through! 

Tomorrow we have to do another step. And another. And eventually we'll be able to get the Google AdManager account setup and working. Pray for us. 

So help me, I hate this product and wish nobody would ever ever use it. I wish our product team built our own advertising tool. But. It's an industry standard. Even though it both sucks and blows. 

We got hit by a big thunderstorm right after I had a check in with the client. It was really exciting. I was going to take an outside walk and thought better of it, right before the storm hit. 

Thank goodness for the treadmill. 

After the Treadmill (which went pretty well), dinner. Geoff found a Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork and it was outstanding. He started it at 10am, and let it sit in the slow cooker all day. Magnificent. I told him he can make this any time he wants. 

I did some further site setup work for Apple News for 6 clients who have a training tomorrow afternoon with them. I enabled some website sharing setups between a bunch of clients and one of them isn't working so I'm going to work on it tomorrow. I'm sure I am overlooking one small thing.

At about 9pm I finished up what I need to do, mostly. I sat outside on the patio, played some phone games, and just enjoyed it being not so roasting hot. 

Tomorrow is a lighter day but I'm going to be scrambling to help that client with the site launch. 

No picture. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/2.18 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 157
4:30pm: 134
11pm: 144

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: large bowl of salad w/can of tuna, mayo, bacon mixed in
2pm: met+glip
4:30pm: atkins protein bar snack
7pm: pulled pork, homemade by Geoff (amazing)
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol etc. 

The Girl's Birthday

My workwife and I don't get to see each other too much, so today being her birthday and all, I wanted to do something fun with her. She's got a lot going on in the personal life, and I thought the personal life needs some super fun time. I want to be that super fun time. 

She met me at a mall and we walked and walked, and ducked into a couple stores to browse. We got to the food court and I felt like I should eat but she already did before she came over. Everything was pasta and chinese food with lo mein or fried rice, so I opted for a very small cheesesteak (should have done the double meat for protein). We sat and chatted, caught up on all the things going on. 

We do this once in a while on zoom at work, but in person, at a mall, being besties, hanging out. I had a great time and I think she did too. 

I headed home, and traffic on 70 was so easy and good. Cruised along and just enjoyed the quiet. I had my phone basically turned off for battery saving, forgot the charging cord at home, so I wanted to be alerted if there were any accidents reported on Waze. 

Geoff made us burgers tonight, Doug took Toffee to the dog park and I passed because I was tired from the driving and the hanging out. I sat out on the patio and just chilled, talked to Linda a bit, and enjoyed the nice weather. 

It is supposed to be nice like this again tomorrow and then possibly storms and .... possibly snow. As Homer Simpson says, "Stupid Smarch Weather." 

Tomorrow is a busy busy day but here's me and my birthday girl pal. Digits Below. Sad the moose's antlers are cut off. (I typed ears. then... horns. Those are not the right words). 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   2 walks in the mall, one for about .9 miles and another for .79. combined 1.8 miles. leisurely. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 121
4:30pm: 160
9:15pm: 170

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
noon: very small cheesesteak in the mall w/onions, peppers, lettuce, tomato, mayo. ate the roll. 
2pm:met+glip
6:30pm: one cheeseburger over big bed of salad w/bleu cheese dressing, a little coleslaw
8pm: small pieces of a brownie from the bakery, one of the pb/reeses chocolate one, and one piece of the oreo and cream one 
8:45pm: met+glip

Late night phone calls

I was all ready to write my entry and Aaron called from Oregon. We'd been playing phone tag for a while and finally connected. 

It's so nice to hear from him. We hadn't talked since maybe August. Long time to go without a chat with a bestie. He's been working on a boat in Alaska, had some surgery on his hips in the fall, is back at it and feeling super good. 

Today was a hard day mentally. The day after the spring forward always kills me. I spent most of the morning in zombie mode, got my brain unfogged by mid-afternoon. Geoff took Toffee for a walk, and initially I thought Doug and I would take her to the dog park, but I had a super emergency "help me" session with a favorite client in Alaska. I worked until after 6 while Geoff made supper. I should have been supervising him because again, he made a mistake in the recipe and it came out horribly watery (nothing worse than watery soup!) Flavor wise, it was decent. No complaints. But yeah. Not the most fulfilling supper. 

Notes for next time. The house smells amazing though. 

After dinner, I decided to make use of this later sunset business and went for a solo walk. I headed one direction, around the senior center, then up to the main drag, crossed over and down the hill. There is a cut over to the dog park about a half block down but I went to the next stop light to get to the big park. 

It was so nice to see so many families out, kids on the playground, and I thought about walking past the ice rink and to the other park and coming back around to our street at the top but said "meh." 

All told, an easy walk, a little over 2 miles, 45 min. No running. Just didn't feel like running. 

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to go to Baltimore. The work wife's birthday is tomorrow and Tuesday/mid week birthdays are hard to have fun. So I'm going to take her to lunch. Looking forward to that! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   45 min. outdoor walk, 2.25 mi. Took it very slow but went further than I'd planned. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 92
4:15pm: 113
10:30pm: 119

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
several cashews all day
11:30am: english muffin w/pb and low sugar j
1pm: met+glip
6:30pm: carrot & ginger soup w/ nice piece of crusty bread; more cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol/wine/beer 

Dam 5 and the Four Locks

There was no argument about what to do today. It was a get outside and enoy the day kind of day. 

I let Toffee out, and noted immediately that hey. Oh, hell yes. OH YES! I'm having coffee on the patio. Fuck YEAH. 

I cleaned the table (thought about doing it last week but eventually said meh). Toffee was doing her usual tour of duty around the yard, and I came out with my coffee and just plopped down. 

Bliss. 

We had kind of a breeze coming from the north east, so a sweatshirt was handy. I enjoyed a good hour of just playing phone games and sipping coffee. 

One of the main reasons why I wanted this house was this spot. I'd love to screen this in, someday. Future plans, but for today and right now... this is what your friend needed and wanted most. 

I surveyed the yard and thought about all the things that need to be done. Mental notes, get the big rake and hand it to The Boy. Drink more coffee. 

Doug let me know that he didn't want to dilly and/or dally today but go out and have some fun. He wanted to take me up to Dam 5 on the C&O canal. He went there when I wasn't around at some point, maybe I was at my mom's. But he thought it was a super cool spot and I could get my mile walk in easy peasy. 

We headed up and the parking area is closed, everything is roped/guarded off. He was disappointed (Information on the work being done is here at the official website.) We parked up on the street and came down around the Lock House, and managed to get onto the trail at about mile 106.5 I think. 

We walked up to the next Lock House, before mile 108, and enjoyed a hang out there. Hardly anyone was on the trail. We did meet one family and the kids were in love with Toffee. We listened to Peepers and I took a bunch of photos. 

Doug suggested we go home and I was kind of like, um... no? Can we do some more fun stuff out here in the world? 

He suggested we drive up to Four Locks next, and we took another short walk. You can stay overnight in the house there at the locks, it seems pretty cool! 

We stopped at one more location, McCoy's Ferry. Not much happening there, a nice trailer put-in for boats, but the action probably kicks in there really soon. 

We were thinking we'd go to Cushwa Brewing but I had some chicken in a marinade waiting for us, and we opted to head home for dinner. 

Daylight saving meant neither of us were hungry at 6pm, so Doug took a nap, I got dinner ready for grilling and goofed off for a while. 

Then, I talked to Linda for 3 hours. Hi Linda. Reading this on Monday Morning. 

Digits below. Of course.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Big leisurely walks at the C&O canal. Combined/measured: 67 min/2.8 miles. 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 128
5pm: 113
10:30pm: 84

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: 647 everything bagel w/cream cheese and turkey
1pm: met+glip
5:30pm: beer 
6:45pm: big salad, 2 slabs of chicken breast. beer. 
8pm: met+glip
made candied cashews so I ate a bunch of cashews in process.

Sometimes it doesn't work out exactly right, so ... pivot

Both the men in my house (my housemates! lol) had rough days today. 

After a leisurely morning hanging out in the living room, I asked Doug if he wanted to go and do anything today. It was cloudy and dreary, a bit colder than they'd told us it would be so he said no. Okay. I'll get ready for the treadmill then. 

As I was getting my shoes on, he went to try and work on the light fixture in the bathroom. 

It has these 3 hangy-downy dealies, and only the middle one works. The other two flicker a bit, and then shut off. He thought it was the bulbs, but no. It's the fixture itself. Something is loose.

I need Doug to do things that are not this light fixture, to be honest. I need him to sort through 6 bags of clothes that he has schlepped from Massachusetts to half of Maryland. I would like him to caulk the inside of the bathtub so we don't get water dripping down into Geoff's bathroom and need a whole new ceiling down there or some shit. I need him to clean up the fucking walnuts he harvested and put in boxes in the carport, thus making it very easy for squirrels to just feast all winter long. I need these things to happen. Not the light fixture. 

But, Doug is gonna Doug. And if I ask him to do those other things he gets mad, and says he'll get to them.

So instead of getting to the things I would love to see done, he set to trying to fix the dumb light fixture. 

I got on the treadmill. I knew it was going to be chaos. I love him. I love him so very much, but he is not a fixer upper guy most of the time. And today the situation was on brand. 

Earbuds in, I could hear yelling. I thought to myself just ... let him rage or whatever. Keep going on the treadmill. Keep running. Keep running.... I got to my half hour mark and even went a little further just because of the song that was playing. When I came out, he was working with Geoff to get the breaker switched back on. 

His face said it all. 

"No luck?" I asked.

"I busted it. It's busted. Now we have to replace it." 

Okay, I'm not mad. Not mad at all.

I hate the light fixture. So not a big fan of it, so when he busted it (and was VERY angry about it) and he sat down to shop for a new one online, I said great. Go for it. 

So now, he can't find anything that has a full rectangular wall mount that he actually likes. He HATES them all. Running commentary about how shitty this one looks, "ooooOOOooOOOoo INDUSTRIAL CHARM!" He doesn't like clear glass covers and those are super popular right now. Industrial and clear orbs. 

Finally he finds stuff he likes, but. 

It's a small circle mount to the wall, not the big giant rectangle. 

"Oh, I like that," I say, very supportively. "But we're probably going to have to paint the ... bathroom wall. Right?" 

And he gets angry. The minute you try to do something, it turns into a full blown out of control project. So yeah, now he's extra mad as he buys the light fixture. 

"Yeah. That's gonna have to happen." 

So, okay. I'm okay with that too. I am not a big fan of the wall color in the bathroom. Heck, I'll even paint the bathroom. Heck, we have a handyman that will do it. I'm sure that Victor will do an amazing job. 

And yes, also do the grout dealie on the tub. 

But he's mad. He cheered up enough to suggest we take Toffee to the dog park. He asked if I wanted to go and I think he expected I would say no because I did the treadmill. 

But the sun had come out, it was warming up nicely, the gloom was lifting. So I agreed to go. We had a good time until all 9 dogs got into a fight. There was a male English Bulldog that kept trying to mount a very scared hound mix named Iris. She was trying to run away, other dogs came in pursuit, and Toffee. Well. She detects chaos and sayd "I'M IN!" and jumped in to fight with the bulldog. It was chaos. We made sure everyone was okay and I told Doug we needed to take Toffee home. Exhausting! 

Meanwhile, Geoff had picked a dinner to prepare for us from a cookbook, and he was prepped and wanting to make this for days. I told him he'd probably need my help, it was a complicated recipe. What was it? Chicken Croquets with diced ham. 

So while this looked complicated, I figured he could do it. He set to getting things ready, and ran out to the market to pick up the parsley because he had forgotten it the other day.

Doug (after buying the new light fixture) read the recipe and got really irritated. "Oh he is NOT. NO. He is not making this." I told him to relax - let Geoff try this out and if it doesn't work, it won't be the first time he made something that wasn't perfect. 

Personally, I like when Geoff gets adventurous and wants to cook something new. I get sick of chicken parm or cheesesteak. He's been branching out and doing all kinds of interesting things. Fried rice from scratch. Really amazing Southwestern creamy chicken soup. 

We worked on getting the mix all together, and when it came time to take the chilled meat out of the fridge and turn it into little balls of happiness...

Let's just say, something wasn't right. 

The croquets didn't hold together, they seemed dry and uncooperative. Also, we don't have a deep fryer, so he opted to use a frying pan with a lot of oil in it. Probably never got up to the right temperature. They fell apart almost instantly. 

I helped him get the food out of the frying pan and into a big bowl - it looked an absolute mess (smelled good though). I'm thinking that he didn't multiply up the butter and egg mixture, or something, because he had a LOT more meat product than what the recipe called for so I told him to math that out to "triple" what it was asking for. 

I asked if there was anything else we could have for dinner, and he threw the tongs at the sink and stormed off. 

Reminding him that sometimes things don't always work out, being mad isn't the best plan. I told him hey, you tried. This wasn't an easy recipe. I'm not mad. I'm proud of you for giving it a shot. But we do need dinner so what else is available.

He said chicken parm. Which made me laugh inside. "Sounds great. Chicken parm it is." 

"That's five hours of my life I won't get back." he says angrily. Indeed. The recipe as complicated. You had to do things, and chill things and then form these blobs of chicken and let them chill again. It was a long time. 

I wished indeed that it had worked out. Just like I wished indeed that Doug was able to fix the light fixture. 

Sometimes it doesn't work out exactly right, so.... pivot. 

I told Geoff maybe the stuff he made would be good re-fried and mixed with alfredo sauce over pasta? He seemed unsure. 

But I think that mix of stuff can be saved, and I'm willing to take a shot with it.. 

He made the chicken parm up, and threw it in the oven. He grabbed a beer, set the timer for 30 minutes, and went downstairs. 

Dinner turned out just fine with the pivot. 

Holy shit I did a lot of steps today. Funny how that works when you use the treadmill AND take the dog for a walk. Beyond Basics. 

Anyway, no pictures but not for lack of trying. Dogs are fast at the dog park. 

Digits below. 

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. A day of walks. Treadmill run, 32 min/2.25 miles. To the dog park, 14 min/.6 mi. Home from the dog park, 19 minutes/.9 miles (3.75 miles total for the day's measurable exercise. 65 minutes). 15k+ steps by bedtime. 

blood glucose:

9am: 120
4:30pm: 103
11:30pm: 63* (tested 2x, both the same basically. rather low. Looking forward to testing in the morning. 

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: met+glip; some chunks of ham from dicing up food for a recipe Geoff was working on
6:15pm: 2 chocolate chip cookies from Aldi
7pm: 1/2 a big slab of chicken parm (and it was damn good). 
7:30: met+glip
no alcohol

"You're an Athlete Now"

So I wanted to write about the massage therapy session. Also, last night was the first night in a very long time that I slept all the way through the night. Well, I did wake up a few times to roll over, or push Toffee out of the center of the bed, but I managed to fall right back asleep in my own bed without going downstairs. 

Yay, me.

Anyway, massage.

When I booked the massage online, I selected "I don't mind which gender therapist" because you could select male or female on the form. I understand when women may not want to be 1:1 massaged by a dude. 

Personally, I just want someone who is good at what they do. 

I was assigned a guy, no problem. 

He was a Geoffrey. I'm not kidding. When he came out to get me and introduced himself I had to smile. He is about 6'3", 250 lbs., big curly hair, little chin beard, glasses, great big smile. 

We had a chat before the massage to go over what I was hoping to get out of the session. I told him that my right hip was killing me, my knee hurt, and I have a good case of tech-neck. After talking to my family care practitioner, she suggested I start with massage and if things did not get better we could ponder arthritis.  

I told him that I'd entered the 100 miles in 100 days challenge, and that in the past few weeks I'd been running more than walking. He was stoked for me. 

"Your hip hurts because of running, not arthritis, I'd put money on that. So let's check in there and get the hip abductors and glutes taken care of." 

I also told him about how I can't take ibuprofen for pain, thanks to the blood clotting disorder situation and how it ... isn't good. And that my doctor has instructed me to not take tylenol because my liver enzymes and other blood tests over the last year have been high. I was taking a lot of tylenol, so I've super scaled back. Instead of daily, maybe twice a week max. But yeah, I'm feeling pain a lot. 

She told me to use biofreeze on the hurty bits. 

"And how is that working out for you?" he asked. 

"Not as good as taking tylenol, of course." I said, "but it is better than absolutely nothing."

Onto the table.

He started with my neck, back, and shoulders, said he could feel some tightness on the left shoulder and that is exactly where my tech-neck lives. 

Down my back, asking me if anything hurt from him pressing. "I'm a big guy and sometimes I get my whole body into this, so let me know if any of this is painful. Some people hate it but they think that's what deep tissue massage is. They're supposed to hate it. No. I want them to tell me if I'm going too hard." 

No dude, you're ... fantastic. 

We talked about how massage is therapy. You go to the doctor, you get meds. You get mental health care, meds or therapy. You eat food, fuels your body, you don't deny yourself any of these other things but really - massage is not a luxury or a "Treat Yo Self," but an essential therapy. You don't have to do it every day, but once a month, every other month. Get your muscles worked out. 

He got to my hip, my glutes, and the backs of my thighs. "Oh yeah. You're right. You're an athlete now!" I laughed. 

"No, I'm serious. You've been doing the walking challenge, probably doing a lot of walking before you started tracking the challenge, and now you're running. You're tight. Your muscles are screaming." 

I told him that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years. Calling my doughy fat body an "athlete," thank you.

He flipped me over and did my quads and I could feel it so much. He pressed on each of the muscles, adductors, abductors, quads, hamstrings, and tendons. I told him that before I recently lost some weight I had no idea what this .... thing was on the side of my knee, the hamstring tendon. And he laughed. Discovering and learning about my body is fun. 

We talked about how he played high school and college football, and blew out his shoulder 5 games into his freshman year season. Once you get injured and decide to not play football anymore you have no scholarship money, and you ... basically drop out. 

He took some gap time, he had some surgery and said "for the rest of my life my shoulder will be fucked up but I'm a very happy person. I tried. And the universe pointed me in a very different direction. I would be graduating this year if I stayed at a 4 year college, and now I'm fully employed, working on my Bachelors in Finance online, and making people happy."

Wait a minute. 

"You said, you'd be graduating this year?" 

He said yes. 

"How... old are you?" I asked. "If you don't mind me asking. You don't have to say." 

"I will be 22 in May." 

Holy shit. You are a baby. 

"Well, you present, if I can steal that phrase from gender identity discussions, you present much older." I said. "I would have guessed by this discussion and your skills, and everything that you were maybe 27 or 28."

My son doesn't present as old as he does. 

"I am an old soul, I guess. But also you're super easy to talk to," he said. "I'm an incredibly introverted person, and I think this is the most I've talked to anyone during a session. You just make it easy." 

I wanted to bring him home and have him become friends with Geoff or something. 

"I think I could talk to you all day," I said, and he laughed and agreed. 

He made it down to my feet, and talked about how my arches are a little stiff. I said I'm for sure feeling that. He encouraged me to go barefoot as much as possible and I told him for sure, I'm barefoot all of the time. A suggestion to use a golf ball to rub the bottoms of my feet daily, just kind of work it out. My feet will feel a lot better.

He finished up, I got dressed and he waited for me in the lobby. He asked if I'd come back, and I said hell yeah. We shook hands and parted with a smile. 

He said I'm an athlete. 

Thanks.

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/2.11 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 143
4:45pm: 103
11pm: 134 

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake in coffee
1:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j; met+glip
4:45pm: hostess ring ding dealie
6pm: bowl of penne pasta w/meat sauce and a slice of garlic bread; white wine
7pm: ramekin of cashews
8:30pm: met+glip