Good eye, sniper

10pm, ish. Nightly. Toffee signals she wants to go out, I let her, go brush my teeth, take the blood sugar reading, go back down and let her in. Sometimes I'm a few steps away from 10k so I walk around the house while waiting for her. 

Then I grab a cup of water and my laptop and head upstairs for the nightly playtime. Toffee grabs a dead stuffed animal carcass, or one of her indestructible destroyed rope balls. And the entire second floor is back and forth, top speed, jump on the bed, turn around, flip around, I take the ball and throw it again, and we do it over and over. 

This lasts only a couple minutes. She is not like C's Frenchie who can do this same game for hours but on a tinier scale. And then Toffee crashes out, and I get ready for bed. 

She's hilarious because she knows what time 10pm is, and she knows it is playtime. And then we're in bed and that's a happy place.

Everyone needs ritual. 

Today I started feeling flat out exhausted around 1pm. I sat in a meeting and listened to my colleagues present findings on a thing they did and I was so impressed but also, it hurt my brain. What they did and worked on together was so good it actually makes me very scared for when I will have to do this very thing by end of summer once everyone is onboarded to our new product. I'm so thankful I have my work son side by side with me. And I'm sure between the two of us, we'll present something amazing. But it is just daunting to think of. 

I had a 3:30 meeting to teach someone how to undo some horrible stuff they did. They caught on fast and I let him drive while I narrated him through item by item. He was so thankful and said "I never would have figured that out."

Well, you might have if you read the actual help documentation for this action because word for word we built it the way it shoulda been built. But that's okay. We survived. 

Doug got on the treadmill at 5 right as I was tying my shoes to do so myself. I'm pretty passive and docile, and he hasn't done it for a couple days so I didn't bitch. I had things to do. Geoff made dinner and it was ready by the time Doug was finished with his time, 44 minutes. I wish I had that attention span. 

I didn't want to get on the treadmill. 

I did, and said okay fine, make it to 15 minutes. Okay you're at 10,  you're being a little slow today. Pick up that pace. Oh, this song by Coheed and Cambria is a good running song so, run. Pick up that pace. This is... Alright. Twenty minutes, well done. Keep jogging. 25 or 6 to 4 is a good pace for running. Go go go. 

You're at 26 minutes don't end on a dumb time. You should have stopped at 25 and now what, you can't go 4 more minutes? C'mon man. Do it.

30 minutes. 2.05 miles. a hair under 15 min pace. Not bad for someone who did not want to do this. 

But fuck that 44 minute bullshit that Doug did. 

Gah. Digits below and here's the Coheed and Cambria song that got me a 12 minute mile pace today. Are you in? or are you out? 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, 30 min/2.06 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 110
4:30pm: 101
10pm: 161

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
noon: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j
2pm: 2 slices of muenster cheese w/ turkey slices 
3pm: hostess ding dong 
6:30pm: some sort of pork loin in a ginger sauce (very interesting) pierogis. White wine
8pm: ramekin cashews
9pm: met+glip

Found Things

Back in November, Doug came home with that giant basket I mentioned yesterday, a giant trunk, two whole ass dining tables, a bureau, a small bookcase, a Nazi sword that his grandfather liberated from Germany in WWII, some sort of antique-ish rifle, and a bunch of other things that his mother didn't want anymore, his sister didn't want, but mom didn't have the heart to give these things away (or throw them away). 

All I was thinking he was bringing back was the redwood picnic table I wanted for the front porch. But there we were, unloading a bigger U-Haul truck than I thought he would be bringing. 

Yesterday, I was going through a bag with some sweatshirts in it. His dad had gotten a sweatshirt with our last name on it and the family crest. Probably off the internet, you know - you can get those things off the internet. I am not even sure it is correct but he was proud of it. 

And there was also a sweatshirt from his branch of the Armed Services. 

I sighed. 

This also looks like something bought at the Rogers Sale or a flea market in Ohio, it doesn't look super official. But I know he bought it, and I know he loved it. I can picture him puttering around the yard and garden in it, early fall, cool weather, picking up sticks for the pile. 

His mom gave both sweatshirts to us, and Doug said he couldn't ever fit in them. She asked if Geoff could, and Doug said, Less So.

So she said "Well, maybe Christine will like them." So they came home.

They fit me, but I feel weird wearing a sweatshirt with our last name on it, walking around town. And I feel even weirder wearing the Air Force one. 

I always admired and respected him for his service. He was a navigator in Viet Nam.  He never ever talked about his war experiences. I sometimes really wanted him to, I wanted to know about things other than "Thai food in America is not as good as Thai food in Thailand. I don't even know what this is that we have here." But I honored his choices. 

Sadly though, I don't think I can wear this, but also, I can't donate it. 

I'm really unhappy with our government. I do not like the 2020 "No War In Iran" people now cheering the bravery and courage it took our president to do what he's doing now in 2026. I don't disrespect those in the service, but I'm not rah rah siss boom bah about our military today. 

I think of Mike Birbiglia and how he loves the troops because if they weren't the troops, HE'D be the troops. And he'd be the worst troops. As would I. So yes, thank you for the Troops. 

I feel a little sick to my stomach when I'm thinking about the situation this weekend, with everything happening. And I'm not putting on the sportsball sweatshirt "I'm With Them" kind of things, even for my beloved Father in Law. Just can't do it. 

So it is going into the closet. Until some other time. Both sweatshirts, together. Kept and not thrown away. 

I also found something else. Quite a while ago, Doug found two bedside tables (or livingroom end tables) on the side of the road. One of them is on my side of the bed, and today I opened the bottom drawer to start tucking some things in from the boxes. 

There were two Christmas cards in the drawer, one from the pastor of a church with a lovely photo of the Reverend and "Lady" [last name redacted]. I thought that was pretty awesome to be married to the reverend and be known as Lady. 

And there was a second card, which made me feel a little sad that we have it and they don't. 

I don't remember the address of the house. It is in our old neighborhood, I'm sure I could drive by and drop it off some one of these days. But what if Rick and Abby are no longer together? What if he or she is absolutely fine with this card being gone and out of their lives. 

I put it back in my bottom drawer, like I put the sweatshirts in the closet. 

It's a Monday, and feels like a Monday. We had a lot of meetings, and a colleague did a swoop in share a lot of opinions that are wrong, and I panicked and reached out to my boss who was already emailing the group. 

I had a super long email chat with a client in Michigan who is lovely and wonderful and he is going through a mess in his personal life, and his office is moving. Over the weekend he had to be at the office packing and moving AND at his dad's house packing and moving there. 

We talked a lot about our aging parents, and how hard this is to deal with. He said his wife has been a partner in crime, a ride or die, a saint. I told him that I've been that for Doug for his aunt, and he's been by my side too with things regarding my mom. 

Where he lives, the house can't be unoccupied for a certain period of time, but for some reason no one will tell him how long, so he's rushing to pack it up and get everything out so they can sell it. I told him about Doug's mom and her Bonnie Two Houses situation. I think if it was against the law for her to have an unoccupied house, Doug's sister would know, and that would be something she'd be on top of. 

Doug called her tonight, he's been meaning to for a week or so. She just sounds super depressed. Doug told her she should take a trip, do something fun. She said she'd love to but she can't lift up anything heavier than 10 pounds (Doctors' orders) so she can't go alone. 

She mentioned a convention in Corning NY that she would love to go to, so I googled it and sadly, well, maybe not sadly but, unfortunately, it is the same weekend as Molly's Wedding in NH. 

But maybe we can take her to Corning NY some weekend. My friend R has been doing glassblowing up there, and I messaged her to find out when she'll be there. I bet Bonnie would love to go and see R's work. 

So put a pin in that friends. I'd like for her to have some fun. 

Anyway. That's about it. Feeling sleepy, ready for bed. Still have some things to finish up for work before I shut down for the night though.  

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/2 miles (almost a 15 min mile split but a few seconds off!); 11k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8am: 102
5pm: 121
10pm: 84

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake mixed in my coffee
12:30pm: 647 everything bagel, 2 pieces of muenster, turkey
1:15pm: met+glip
6pm: Southwestern chicken and corn chowder (a Geoff Specialty, one of his best meals!)
8pm: ramekin of cashews, met+glip
one vodka and diet cran (just to kill the diet cran bottle)

Puzzle Table and Unboxing

We were all three of us in the kitchen today, well four if you count miss Toffee. It is nice to have a kitchen big enough that I'm not freaking out because someone is crowding me opening the fridge while I'm trying to make eggs, or getting coffee while I'm trying to open the oven. 

"Your pants are on inside out," Doug says to me. 

Oh. 

He grabbed the tag and tugged it a couple times. "You've got a little tail." 

I always bring my yoga pants downstairs with me when I wake up in the middle of the night and retreat to the guest room. I must have taken them off funny, resulting in them being inside out, and then I never noticed it when I put them on. 

"Where would I be without you?" I asked. "What if I'd left the house to do something or go somewhere, and I was like that. It would be so embarrassing. Thank you for saving me from myself." 

Doug is doing our taxes. He set up in the dining room with the JBL speaker and all the paperwork. He cranked some music, and I busied myself upstairs (lest I looked like all I was going to do today was play phone games). 

One of my goals has been get things out of the mud room and put away where they belong. I have a toy box that my parents bought me when I was small and wee. The summer between my freshman & sophomore years in college, I refinished it (with my dad's help. He sanded it, I stained it). I have usually kept blankets or big bulky sweaters in there, but right now I had the need for somewhere to put all the sweatshirts. I own a lot of sweatshirts. 

Blankets are now in this GIANT woven basket that Doug brought back to his parents from his mission trip to Haiti in high school. His mom divested herself of it, and he came home here with it. He put it in our bedroom closet, I filled it with blankets. 

So if. you're visiting and need a blankie, you know where they live. 

I also had a lot of laundry to fold, and process, and ponder. One of the things I wanted to do lately was get things ready to donate. I'm very good at divesting myself (love that term as you can see I've used it twice so far) of clothing I'm no longer interested in, never wear. In my mind, I hear an old friend following me around the house when we were packing to move once saying "oh! Did you miss that? Have you needed it in five years? No. Goodbye." (gone). So that got done. 

I have two large boxes that ended up in our bedroom, that needed to be sorted through. What stays up here, what do I want in my office (once i set up my office) what is for storage. Oh, here are stamps and envelopes. Wonderful. Oh! an extension cord. Yes. Hooray. So that got started and I found the puzzle that was on the puzzle table in the livingroom that I disassembled when we moved. She has a new home. 

We bought ourselves a really nice Turkish lamp when we were in New Orleans a few years ago, and the bulb burned out. It is kind of a "special" looking bulb and I've put off trying to figure out what it is. 

Enter: Google Lens. 

I took a picture of it with my phone and found out exactly what it was. Found a link to Amazon, ordered a two-pak since it was less expensive to buy two than to buy one (go figure). It will arrive Tuesday.

The day was getting away from me, and I realized I needed to hit the treadmill. I didn't want a run-run but I wanted to dedicate a full half hour to this effort. Spotify gave me a daylist called "flannel baggy jeans Sunday Afternoon," which actually had some good fast-ish songs so I doubletimed some of the walking, ended up with a little over a 15 minute mile on both miles (2 total). Not bad. 

Doug was napping after doing the taxes (and we owe a lot more than I thought we would so I'm slowing down on paying off the credit card (so close) and I'm not shifting my retirement plan back to 13% where it was before we started saving for the house. Doug told me to do it before New Years, I need to call the retirement company to do it personally, no online changes for this (which is obnoxious). Thankfully I've delayed, and to be honest, I'm super okay with that. 

I jumped in the shower and after I got out, dressed, etc he told me his cousin called and wanted to come by. 

I mean.

No? Like no? I am not in the mood. Initially I was kind of mad, but honestly, he has no one else. And for some reason he likes to hang out here. And I put away my shitty attitude, poured a glass of wine, and ate dinner. 

When he got here, I asked if he'd had dinner yet and he hadn't. 

So I warmed up some of ours for him. We had some random ass beers because Geoff buys these mixes from places and there's always a Mango something or a Coconut Chocolate thing in the sampler, and no one likes those. Oh, or lite beers. Mix packs lately are coming with lite beers. 

He accepted one we had that wasn't too fruity or sour or high in ABV. I loaded the dishwasher, and thought about baking cookies but then just felt like nah. I didn't want to go through the effort. So I sat to watch TV with them.

Doug pulled up an anime he had watched a long time ago and kind of stopped watching. I went upstairs to set up the puzzle table that I'd been jonesing to do for a super long time. Sorting the pieces, I think the small square table isn't going to be big enough for this one, so maybe we need the big rectangle one I was planning for my desk (the puzzle table from the last house). I'll give it a shot. 

Realizing that if anyone is going to evening puzzle work, we're going to need a lamp over in that area, and my little light bulb refilled Turkish lamp will be just the thing.  

Not a bad day but also, not exactly what I'd envisioned for end of day. I've had worse, ya know?

Before and after pictures of the corner by my bedside are below. As are the digits.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, 30 min/2.03 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 150
4:30pm: 140
10:15pm: 117

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
protein shake mixed in my coffee
12:15pm: 2 eggs, scrambled w/goat cheese and bacon
the rest of Geoff's mac & cheese w/bacon (i'm weak)
1pm: met & glip 
5:30pm: cheesesteak filling with some onion rings (mushrooms, red pepper, onion in the mix)
9pm: met+glip
red wine

Dead Birds and Dry Turds

Oh my gosh, you guys, it was gorgeous out there today. 

Up early again today and Doug slept until almost 10. I heard the news about the Iran situation and opted not to turn on the TV. 

I poked around the kitchen, ate two donuts, played phone games, cuddled the dog. When Doug came down, he put on the TV and I walked away. I went upstairs and cleaned a bit, stripped the bed and got some more stuff organized. 

Then, I went outside because watching the news and listening to "that guy" talk about stuff was not going to make me happy. And it was beautiful. I got the dog shit rake and shovel out, got a bucket and lined it with a trash bag and I started picking up. Toffee came outside with me, and she was romping and playing and having a good old time. 

90% of the dog crap was picked up and I gathered up a bunch of sticks. I thought about the phrase "Stick Season," and how this isn't the same as what it means in Vermont (or, Noah Kahan's album title) this is a different kind of stick season. I like this stick season, getting ready for a little camp fire action in the yard. And boy, is our season plentiful! 

There were more toys in the yard, hair clips and matchbox cars. Honestly every time I go out there, I find more and more toys. One would think I would have found them all by now. 

I looked over at Toffee and she had something in her mouth and was throwing it up in the air, letting it drop, grabbing it and running. Having the time of her life.

I realized it was a bird. A very dead bird. Good Lord, gross. No. 

And people wonder why I don't let the dog lick me in the face, any dog. Nope. 

I tried to get her to drop it but she did not want to give it up. Doug had come outside to see what I was up to (I guess he also tired of the repetitiveness of the news and wanted to check out the weather). 

"Your dog has a dead bird in her mouth and she won't drop it," I let him know. He tricked her into coming into the house for a bully stick, without the bird, so I was able to clean it up. Into the bucket with the poop. 

We sat on the patio for quite a while, Doug looked like he wanted to take a nap and I told him it was okay if we didn't go do something. He asked if I knew tomorrow's weather (what do I look like, Harvey Leonard?) I said I heard it was going to be cooler, much cooler, like high of 40. Today was a high of 73. He said we should seize the day. 

Geoff went to the market, and we went to the C&O canal in Williamsport. We only walked about 2.5 miles total, coulda gone longer, but both of us were feeling like we wanted to get home. Geoff made dinner, I worked on some work stuff, Doug took that nap. 

Even if it is cooler tomorrow, I think it is not supposed to be windy. Maybe we will get a second good day of walking in. 

He's going to start our taxes tomorrow, which is always fun because he has to reset the password, and gets yelly at the software. 

Maybe I'll take the dog somewhere solo. 

Digits below some pictures. I did take a pic of the dead bird but will not post it here, lest you be super duper grossed out! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. C&O canal walk with Doug and Toffee, 56 min/2.53 miles at a nice pace. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 102
4:30pm: 147
10:30pm: 174

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine; 2 Krumpe's Donuts
1pm: small bowl of tuna fish w/ the last of the salad greens and some cherry tomatoes; met+glip
5pm: small bowl of cashews
6pm: spicy "dirty" rice with ground beef, shredded cheddar, sour cream.
9:15pm: met+glip
no wine/beer 

Early Bird gets the Late Nite Donuts

I was awake at 4. Went to pee, drank some water, put on some Biofreeze on my hip and right knee. Back to bed. The dog came to join me because I am, of course, the best and most wonderful dog parent to snuggle with and she loves me. 

I woke up a little before 7. Tried to go back to sleep but it wasn't happening. 

So I got up and fed miss thing and let her out. I did my blood sugar, I made the coffee. When the dog came back in, I felt like ... well. I could sit on the couch, drink coffee, play my phone games or damn it...

I could get on the treadmill at 7:30am. Are we doing this? Are we doing this! 

We did this. I did a solid mile but not at a fast clip. Just to get it done, get the mile out of the way. It was going to be a busy busy day. 

As you can see, ya gurl has crushed the 100 miles, we're halfway done with the challenge, and who knows, maybe I'll hit 500 miles by the time this is buttoned up in April. New goal set, I guess. 

But this morning I was sluggy and tired and I forced myself to finish the mile. 

Note to self: drink coffee first for best results.

After the treadmill, I got a shower. I've been putting off showering most days until the afternoon so this was nice. Felt like a human being who goes to a job. And working before 9am. 

There were a lot of meetings today and a lot of helpdesk tickets, but I had a nice wide open time slot in the middle. 

I was going to take toffee for a walk but Geoff beat me to it. Probably a good plan because I had a lot of work to do still before leaving for dinner. 

A friend of mine from college and her husband were passing through, driving down to South Carolina and then to Florida. They thought this was a good stopping point before making it to SC and arrived last night. They went for a long walk on the C&O canal. 

We tried to remember when we saw one another last and it has to be maybe 1994. But it was like we saw each other the other day. Lots of catching up, talking about the kids, houses, work. Doug and the husband hit it off really well and it was fun to sit there chatting and listening to the two of them talk as well. 

We mentioned the donut place and told them about how it is only open to the public from 7pm-11pm. "Let's go," she said. She has Celiac's so she can't eat the donuts "but he's entitled to indulge!" 

There was a big line but it was moving quickly. They were horribly entertained by the concept of this late night donut thing, and he got a dozen so he could eat one or two and bring the rest to his sister in SC. 

When I got home, I took my evening medicine (90 min. late) and my blood sugar (a little too high) so I passed on the donut treat. We'll see how things are tomorrow. 

I also got on the treadmill when we got home, because I was 2k steps or so short for the goal. I stayed seated at the restaurant while we were all chatting away, so there was that to make up for and more. 

So I crushed that and got ready for bed.  

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be amazing so I hope we can get some yard work done (maybe) or a nice walk somewhere (more likely). 

Digits below this shot of the nighttime donut gang.

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours.  Missed 7 and 8pm for sitting at dinner. Early Treadmill, 18 min/1.06 miles, Late Treadmill, 20 min/1.29 mi.  11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 119
4pm: 91
10:30pm: 191

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine
8:30am: protein shake
1pm: met+glip
1:45pm: ramekin of tunafish 
4pm: handful of trail mix that had a bunch of sugar coated thingies (oops)
6pm: beef brisket w/some BBQ sauce, a little coleslaw (gross) 
9:30pm: met+glip

skipped the donut, no wine/beer

TV Time

Tonight, I watched TV. Doug put on the Rowan Atkinson version of Maigret, which I really enjoyed. Have to say, Rowan Atkinson plays a lovely serious old man French detective. Then we started watching the 1960s version, which was also very good. 

Nothing really good or interesting today. Tomorrow we're going to dinner with an old dorm mate of mine from college, she is a Pokemon friend and she and her husband are toodlin' aboot our area, so she remembered I sent her Pokemon gifts from our town and she hit me up to invite us out. 

I haven't told Doug yet but ... I will! 

And that's about it. Digits below, noting I think my blood sugar has been kinda high the past week or so, so I'mma tryina to better with it and not bake and eat cookies and stuff. Reel myself in. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill twice. First was 16 min/1.03 mi running; 22 min/1.04 walking slowly just to get to 10k. 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 122
4:45pm: 128
10:30pm: 151

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine
10:45am: 647 everything bagel w/cream cheese
2:15pm: met+glip (almost forgot!); ramekin of mixed nuts 
5:45pm: 2 boneless pork chops shake & bake, peas,  6 pierogis
9pm: met+glip
no wine/beer

In the 14 minute range

Funny note. I went to the guest room last night after 2am when I had to pee. Immediately fell back asleep which was nice. 

Around 6am, I heard what I thought was a thunderstorm. It was part of my dream, it seems. I opened my eyes, expecting to see some flashes of lightning but only heard this rolling thunder.

It was Toffee, snoring in my butt. Tucked into behind my legs super tight, and just snoring her brains out. I shifted so she could breathe, and I laughed. Brian Rosenworcel is the Thundergod, but I'm sleeping with the Thunderdog. 

Since I've been using the treadmill almost daily, and  simply walking a mile takes too long. I started jogging. Then actually running. I was super proud of myself if I did a mile in 16 minutes. Running.  Actually running. Doug said that he could do that walking. 

I said good for you, you walk fast. But my fat little joggy body is doing great breaking a 16 minute mile. 

He also said "why would you do that to yourself?" Which made me laugh.

Doug is not a fan of runners and running, races resulting in road closures and detours so that people can take over miles of a town. 

He thinks it is a stupid waste of time, resources, space. I get it but it is like, no harm no foul to me.

It is similar to the way I feel about golf courses. I hate golf courses, and the maintenance of them. So wasteful. So much water. Road races don't piss me off so much. 

It took me a long time to break 16 minutes and get into a 15 minute mile pace. And over the past couple of days I've been solidly in the 14 minute mile pace. The trick for me is to do a good warm up amount of steps and then turn on the Fitbit tracker and start running, this way my first couple minutes are not at 19 min/mile warming up but I can just get right into the fast. 

I've cracked into the 12 min and 13 min areas, and it evens out when I have to slow down but I try not to let it get over 14+ min and back into the 15 min range. 

Today was a good run. I've had an attention span problem the last couple days where I get to 15 minutes and I'm so very done. I know I've hit the mile, so I stop and go back to work or whatever. The problem then turns into not having enough steps to hit 10k by bedtime. I get my mile in, sure, but then end up having to do a lot more steps or get back on the treadmill for another 10- 15 minutes just to do 10k steps. 

When we go to bed, Toffee is exceptionally playful lately so we bring some formerly stuffed toys upstairs, and she runs around. We play keep away. I can sometimes get an extra thousand steps in before tucking in. 

We went outside this afternoon and she ran around like crazy while I surveyed the yard. Wow. So much dog crap. Gotta get the rake and bucket out to handle this and start cleaning it up. Never thought I'd hope for another 2 inches of snow to just cover it all up again and hide it. 

I may get that wish from what it sounds like, Monday into Tuesday from what I read. 

Today is a crush 11k steps day. I was thinking we'd get a good second walk outside with the dog and Doug but he took a nap and I cooked dinner. Geoff cooks so much for us that I gave him a break on things for a change. 

Busy work day and another busy one tomorrow. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, image above. 30 min/2.13 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 138
5pm: 135
10:45pm: 122

food & meds:
8:15am: jardiance+phentermine
9am: Entenmann's chocolate donut
11:45pm: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1:45pm: met+glip
6:30pm: chicken fajita - one wrap (low carb) but a pile of filling on the side. A little spanish rice, some sour cream, shredded cheddar
8:30pm: met+glip
red wine

It Was Almost Operation Rescue Shirley Up In Here

Work was chaos today, we had a small outage due to something happening outside our control with one of our vendors. Once it was assessed and fixed, everything went back to normal. Except one other thing. My work son and I had a meeting to troubleshoot the hell out of this other thing, and we think we figured it out for one client but not the other. 

While I'm dealing with the outage, Doug comes downstairs and asks if I'd heard when mom is going to get her power back on. I told him the email we got from her trailer community said "several days, most likely" and that I didn't have any idea what the current status was. 

Her neighbors came and got her on Sunday so she didn't have to be in the trailer in the cold alone if the power went off, and it did go off.  They have a generator, and made it clear she was to stay with them. Linda and I were very comfortable with this. So she'd been there since then. Her neighbors are sweet and kind, and I so appreciate they got her... 

Doug felt it was asking too much for them to host her for much longer. 

"We should go extricate your mom from the situation. Operation Rescue Shirley." Doug likes to call things "Operation" whatever, so this was his name for the plan. 

Um.

Well? I kind of agree but hell if we drive up there, literally the entire city of Providence is closed to traffic. All the bridges are closed. The airport is closed. We won't be able to fly up, rent a car, get her, and turn around and head this way. Plus, with our luck, we get up there, get her, head back this way, and while we are on our way here the power is restored. Or. She's here for one day and the power gets restored. 

Maybe I drive up, get her, and take her far enough away from where she lives where there is no power, get a hotel, like maybe Connecticut or upstate NJ... and what, two days? see how that goes? Go up to New Hampshire? stay up there near Jess and C? For my sanity please? 

Maybe I go get her and take her to Linda? But Linda has a board meeting to run today, and her guest room is not ready, and it would be asking a lot. 

So. Maybe we wait and see if the power comes on? One more day? Wait one more day. 

The power was restored this afternoon, and her neighbor came up to her house to make sure the furnace was running, the pipes had not burst, cranked the heat a little bit, and then brought her up the circle back home. 

So tonight I'm reflecting on the fact that my husband feels it is very important for not other people to be taking care of our family members and he was willing to right then step up and start driving. I agree with him. Other people should not have to take care of her. In fact, I thought about canceling my trip to John and heading to her instead... but that would maybe have made me a villain to him. Maybe. 

I'm using the word maybe a lot. 

But my husband is a good egg with a big heart. He's a big damn hero sometimes. And while I'm trying to write a customer wide outage email announcement, he's grilling me about maybe taking off to head that way (it was 10am). 

I'm incredibly relieved that he is the person he is, and that we didn't have to enact the Operation Rescue Shirley adventure. But also wanted to talk to Linda first before buying plane tickets to try and go up there, or like, how do we do this at all. Fly up? rent a car? Drive back? Drive up and back? He was suggesting somehow that I fly back here with her and I'm thinking Jesus No. She is going to say no fucking way - she won't even go on a road trip somewhere close to home much less fly on a plane. That would be a challenge and a half.

So once I heard the power was on, that she was secure and back home, I hit the treadmill (sent the email missive) and crushed a mile with a 14.37 min pace. Anxiety will do that for ya. 

I fell short of the amount of steps I usually have by 7pm, so I got on the treadmill again (too cold for a dog walk) and just slow strolled while reading the news. I realized today was the SOTU and I wanted nothing to do with it, so I unpacked some more boxes up in my room and avoided it all. Mentally, I feel better for it. 

Here's a pic of mom that neighbor friend sent us. Thanks neighbor friends! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks, first an early-ish run 17 min/1.17 mi. Make up steps, 15 min/.69 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime (tried for 11k, ran out of time). 

blood glucose:

8:30am: 138
4:30pm: 150
10pm: 160

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
a handful of mini-reeses pb cups
11am: very large apple w/pb
1pm: met+glip
4:30pm: ramekin of cashews
6pm: black bean and kielbasa soup (a la Geoff) 2 Kings Hawaiian rolls
white wine
9pm: met+glip

A Gold Medal Sunday

Sunday morning, I was awake at 5:30 but never fell back asleep. So I got up at 6. I got myself dressed and ready, went down to the hotel coffee bar for 2 cups (thank you Holiday Inn Express for providing DECENT sized coffee cups!) Organized my shit. Woke up Doug. 

We had to go get John for the 8am Gold Medal Hockey game. 

John was very excited for it. He played hockey, he loves hockey, and he was going to watch it anyway, but probably in the big common room or on his iPad so as not to bother his roommate (He got moved into a new room, and the gentleman is very old and sleeps a lot but tells John it is okay if he lives his life). 

I suggested when we were out at dinner on Saturday night that we could watch it together. I immediately regretted it. Why do I open my mouth. But. 

I thought a lot about him wanting to go to a museum and me being all "fuck that shit" about it. Some of his friends took him to a Monet exhibit, and they got a nice picture after and printed it for him on a Monet print. He texted me pictures of it, and you could tell. 

That meant the world to him. You could see it in the picture.

I'm happy he got that. Happy he got that with his friends. Happy they were there for him and gave him this print so he could look at it. Then, I realized I wasn't thinking about this part of his reality really, that he isn't going to get many opportunities to do and see things so. Do and see things. And my fuck that shit attitude is natural based on regular life but this is different. 

We had told him we'd pick him up at 7. I had made reservations at a sports bar that does brunch, because Reddit suggested we try there for the Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Game. 

Now. 

I normally would never ever do this. Go to a bar first thing in the morning with a bunch of strangers to watch a sportsball game. Putting on Hard Pants, going out where it is full noise and people. I could watch from home. 

But there we were. Picking him up, getting there, waiting on line in the rain. He wore one of his hockey jerseys from when he played in Japan. 

He realized he probably should not wear his Montreal Canadiens Jersey, so he settled for this. I told him that no one would probably care and I think I was right but he's very opinionated about things like this and was sure someone would kick his ass or give him shit.

Dude, you're in a wheelchair. If anyone gave you shit I'd have to beat them to a pulp, on principal.

He was very talkative and excited on line and this was kind of sweet, to see him so enthusiastic. It is weird because it made me think of mom and what she's like in public. She'll totally talk to strangers, talk about herself. Here he is doing his auntie proud. So much like her sometimes it boggles my mind. Hopefully when Linda is reading this she's laughing. 

Since I made reservations for us (thank you Reddit for suggesting the spot, and thank you to the girl I talked to the night before when I called to ask about wheelchair accommodations) I knew we had a guaranteed spot once inside. 

The manager saw us on line and said "hey Christine! Glad you made it." I wondered how he knew me and then I was like ohhhh yeah. I mentioned the wheelchair access. 

He treated us like gold. 

The restaurant has this cute little alcove for kind of bigger parties, so a table for 12 was set up with one guy sitting at it, a 2 seater, and our table. The manager went to move one of the chairs out of the way and stopped.  "Oh! Would you prefer to sit in the chair instead of stay in your wheelchair?" John said no - he wanted to sit in the window seat, so we parked the wheelchair on that side of the table, moved the chair away, and settled in. 

Quick attention from the waitress, mimosa for me, and brunchie foods ordered, beer for John, and Doug stuck with coffee for quite a while. We watched people flowing in, and the game was underway. 

And as mentioned, I normally would never do this 8am for any sport viewing thing but I have to admit, this was fun. Everyone was fun. There were Canada fans, and plenty of USA Fans (I would say an 80/20 split USA to Canada ratio). Lots of team jerseys and that made me sad I wasn't sporting a Bruins shirt. John said that people would give me shit, but I told him the vibe was not like that. No one is giving anyone shit for their fandoms. 

No one was a dick. There was no fighting. It was fun. Very lighthearted. Very good time. He said disparaging things like "This is Richmond Virginia, no one knows anything about any hockey teams." Okay yeah sure. I'm sure no one in Richmond likes the Nationals or the Carolina Hurricanes. Sure. Whatever. 

A USA! USA! USA! Chant started and when it died down a guy yelled CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA! and a few others joined in. Lots of laughter. 

The table for 12 next to us was a bunch of grownups, friends/relatives, and their little kids. 

I mean, little. 

I don't think any of them were over 6.

 There were three siblings, a boy and two girls. The boy was the oldest, and had long curly hair. John, of course, made a comment about his hair. All three of them were super curly whirleys and very cute. The middle girl had a Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews Jersey on, her Dad had a Canada jersey. 

The littlest one wore a Frozen Elsa dress and she was a hot ticket. The parents had their hands full, juggling all three of them.  You could tell that number 3 was a little feral, and you know me. I love feral children. 

Partway through the first period, the boy threw up. I thought he was looking kind of droopy. He had his head down on the table, and he'd brought a ton of hockey player cards which were in a box and stacked up on the table. But he faded fast. I thought to myself with my mom intuition kicking in, yeah. That isn't a good look for a kid who came in really excited about the game. 

So when he stood up and barfed, thankfully it went STRAIGHT down between his feet. Mom jumped into action, dad swung the little one off her lap, and I went to get the manager guy to ask for towels and a mop.

"Sir," I said, "We have a small boy barf situation in the alcove." 

He rushed over with a bunch of bar towels and said he'd be right back with a mop. The boy threw up again but mom was brilliant and stuck a plastic drinking cup (all the kids' drinks came in these fun cups) right in front of his face, and the kid horked into it. Second cup. Same thing. The poor little guy. 

Manager was back with a mop in no time as dad and I are wiping the floor with paper towels, since the bar towels were completely used. 

Of course I'm that person. 

The manager said "okay parents, I got this," and he started mopping. One of the kitchen staff came out with a bag and got the bar towels and handed a bag to the mom and she was putting some soiled toys and the boy's sweatshirt into the bag. And both the employees were gloved up and that was a good sign for me. Not cleaning up barehanded. Well done, gents. 

The little boy was sad and stunned. Mom was getting him organized to take him home. Dad said he'd keep the other two. His priorities satisfied, she's got the sickie and he's got the hockey game and his buddies, and well, everyone had all the kids.

He turned to me and said "thank you so much." 

"I actually saw it coming. He didn't look too lively, rather wilted, to be honest."

"Yeah, he was so fired up for this game and when I looked over at him resting his head I figured something was up but ... didn't see this coming."

"Been there," I said. "My son once threw up all over the aisle at a Texas Roadhouse in Plaistow, NH after eating a giant meal so, it happens. I get it." 

May I have another Mimosa, please. 

Also, serving a mimosa in a pint glass, this is my kind of place. I could have done with a little less ice, but. I wasn't complaining.

The game was great. I was initially heartbroken that Jeremy Swayman of the Bruins was not going to be the goalie but hell yes Connor Hellebuyck totally kicked ass out there. I felt like it was an absolute defensive battle at times where the goalies for both teams were saving the day. But then, Canada tied it up. Oh no.

Overtime. Alright. 

Part of me wanted to be on the road by 11am but. Overtime. Here we go. John was full of opinions on how we were absolutely going to lose because 3 on 3, Canada is better than us, faster than us, gonna lose gonna lose, gonna lose. 

I wanted to just put him in the car and go because okay champ, we gonna lose why stay here, let's go. Why stay. 

Ordered another mimosa. 

Doug got a beer. 

Less than two minutes into overtime, the USA Won. Hallelujah. So glad they did it. What a joy. 

The bar exploded. It was absolutely joyous. I loved every second of it. 

As the bar was clearing out, Canada Dad leaned over and said "seriously, thank you so much for your help today." We shook hands, and I said "I'm very sorry for your loss, but wow, what a game. Privilege to be here with you for it." This made him smile as he hoisted Elsa up on his hip and left. 

We took Miss Daisy back to his gulag and he fell into bed exhausted. "I didn't do much, but wow is that tiring being up and active for so long." 

Tell me about it, bro. 

We headed north. The goal was to get home before the snow kicked in. The forecast was for it to get serious around 4pm at our house, and Geoff said it was already snowing, but nothing was sticking. 

We decided to not take the interstate beyond Fredricksburg, because it is more fun to drive up Rte 17 even if it ends up taking us out of our way over to Winchester and Rte 81. 

But Doug told me that he was interested in making a side quest to Charles Town, West Virginia and that would bring us up into Maryland just south of where we live. About a 50 minute ride on two lane roads for most of it. 

And the snow wasn't bad. 

Abolitionist Ale Works was the destination he had in mind, and we pulled up as the snow was coming on hard. A bunch of people were inside, and the beertender welcomed us warmly. We watched the closing ceremony for the Olympics, and everyone was very entertained by what we were seeing.

Two beers and some take-aways later and we were on the way home. 

There are only a couple ways over the Potomac, two of them are right in this stretch. One is through Harper's Ferry to the East, and the other is the one Doug picked through Shepherdstown and into Sharpsburg. Both towns we are very interested in seeing more of. 

In fact, we jokingly thought of going to look at a Church that was for sale in Sharpsburg when we were starting out looking. I thought it would be fun to live downstairs, have a nice music hall in the sanctuary and the organ loft could be the guest area for musicians coming through. The place was mostly finished down the basement for an actual 2 bed 2 bath home, but yeah. I really would love to do that if I had the money.

If I had a million dollars, I'd buy your church...

Geoff had no dinner planned, which is weird for him. We were home by 4:30pm and Doug wanted a nap. I offered to go to the market because there was no milk for coffee for the morning. 

And. I finally got a haircut. There is a market that we'd never been to (which is associated with Stop & Shop and Giant) and a Hair Cuttery next door. I called to make sure they were open, and they gladly had me come in. I'd been putting this off since my birthday. Finally. 

The market was fun, hardly anyone there. I helped a guy find canned tuna fish (seriously, the young man kept seeing "Chicken of the Sea" on the label, and I said "oh honey, no. That's the name brand like Starkist." And I handed him a can to show him. I told him he should always buy tuna in water, not in vegetable oil because that's greasy and nasty and no - don't do that to yourself. He was on the phone with someone and he said "Oh this nice lady just helped me find the tuna. I'm so stupid..." and he told them about how he thought Chicken of the Sea was ... chicken. And he was laughing, so cute. 

I headed out to the parking lot and there was a person trying to clean their car off but they had no scraper or snow brush, they were using the sleeve of their sweatshirt. They got into the car and started it, and I was afraid they were just going to hit the windshield wiper and start driving off. 

There was a snow brush in my hatchback, so I pulled it out and trotted over and started brushing. 

They rolled down the window and said profusely thanked me. "I didn't think it was going to start snowing until later, and I've been at work at CVS all day! I had nothing to wipe this off with!" So I told her no sweat, no worries, I got you. Put your defroster on the front and the back, and I'll have you cleaned off in no time. They offered to put my groceries in the trunk but I said to not worry about it. It's not a problem. 

And I finished brushing the car off and they were so happy. 

Driving home, I realized I was goofing off so much at the market just looking at stuff that I forgot ... milk. 

I also forgot ground beef, and I got shake & bake for pork chops but ... no pork chops. Okay. 

I drove over to our regular market and got the things I had forgotten. And they also didn't have cole slaw mix at the first market, and I wanted that so I got some (and dressing). 

For dinner last night, I got grocery store fried chicken, fresh out of the fryer and it smelled so good. I over bought, we could have eaten one box but I got two because I should not be allowed to go to the grocery store when I'm hungry. 

And as of this writing on Monday, it was another good busy working day. My northern co-workers clocked in with 18 to 20 inches of snow so we spent a good deal of time in our team meeting talking about the weather. 

Digits below, here's a picture of John and Doug at the bar for the hockey game. I see so much of his mom in his face, and his dad. It is a very interesting picture to me. He said he thought he was smiling. I promised next visit, we'll bet smiley pictures if he is up to to smiling. That made him smile.

Monday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill between meetings (call it lunch time!) 16 min/1.07 miles. 2nd/extra treadmill time since I was short on steps for the day (and I tested the Run setting on my fitbit with the GPS turned off and it worked!) 15 min/1.05 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8:45am: 140
4:45pm: 89
10pm: 160

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
8:45am: atkins protein shake
11am: Entenmann's donut
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar blueberry j
12:45pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of pasta shells w/meat sauce, 2 small pieces of garlic bread
8:15pm: met+glip

Sunday digits

exercise: 10/12 hours. Missed 2 hours from being in the car. Treadmill after dinner, 20 min/1.27 mi. No energy to run just had to get the mile done. 10k+ steps by bedtime. 

blood glucose:

6am: 150
xpm: x
10:30pm: 188

food & meds:
6am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
exact times, not accounted for.
3 mimosas, really good breakfast quesadilla
11:45am: met+glip
on the highway (maybe 1pm?) 2 dunkin donuts
4pm: 2 beers at Abolition Ale Works
7pm: grocery store fried chicken, home made coleslaw, scoop of mac & cheese
7:45pm: met+glip

USA! USA! USA!

 Okay. I'm so tired, and I'm not going to write a full Sunday Update entry until tomorrow but hello. We survived. We are home. Relieved.

I am sorry for everyone on the East Coast getting feet of snow. We got an inch. Initially they said 5 to 8 but. I think we've gotten what we're getting. 

Thinking of you all. 

All 2 of you who actually read this blog. 

More tomorrow. BE CAREFUL everyone.

Cousin Update

Oh hotel beers. I love you. 

It was a stressful day. We had a GREAT travel time coming down here. I don't have the energy to blow by blow talk about the overall stress that we experienced coming down here but as of writing at 9:30pm I'm not stressed and life is fine. 

We're fine.

Things are fine. 

We had dinner with John and his friend Keith, who is interesting. 

I also had a 90 minute call with Jess that brought me laughter and joy. God how I love them. 

So tomorrow morning, we are picking my cousin up at 7am 

yes

7am. 

To go to a bar in Richmond to watch the USA vs. Canada hockey game. I made a reservation at a bar in town for this. 

I have deep thoughts. but for right now. There's this. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 1pm by being in the car. Did treadmill in the AM before we left, 15 min/1.04 mi. End of day treadmill, 5 min/.4 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 121
4pm: 115
10:15pm: 192

food & meds:
8am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
10:30am: english muffin w/pb and regular j
1pm: met+glip
4:30pm: peel and eat shrimp; pad thai; beers; Tom kha soup w/shrimp; pad thai w/peanut sauce and shrimp
More beers at hotel, trail mix, and smart food
8:45pm: met+glip

Fractured Cancer Hip is the name of my nu metal emo band

Come see us on tour. 

My sister and I were having a moment and she made the above remark about our cousin's hip, and I added the part about it being the name of my band and we're probably going to hell. 

Anyway. 

There was a moment at work today where we discovered some deep dark magicks written before the modren-era memories and from before I worked for my company because there were all these references in the database to things none of us ever heard of. And my boss remembered because he used to work for one of our clients, and recalled a thing. A suite of things. And they all had names. And one rang a bell for him and he went to the Way Back Machine and found it on his super old version of his website. 

We were all in awe. 

Sometimes there is a wizard, and we suddenly have the knowledge and power we need. 

It was a shining moment. A real breakthrough. And we can safely delete all the shit this thing references and never speak of it again. 

Done, and dusted. 

Part of the joy of my job, you can say. I often want to delete or flush or get rid of things that I feel are remnants of the Olden Works and others say "no no no we should just migrate it over." 

But the database is 50million lines long. no. Flush some shit. 

My experience with the hoarding aunt and my own recent move point to a Marie Kondo this database philosophy. Do not bring it if it does not spark joy, my friends. 

The entire afternoon was wide open for me so I hit the treadmill at 12:15, grabbed a shower. My standing 1pm meeting... sigh. We keep canceling it. My colleague forgets or their mom calls, or they are working on a slide deck, or. Or. Or. 

So with that canceled I reached out to my 2pm to see if she wanted to move up and I'm glad we did. There was a lot to cover, and we found some things I have to bring to the product team. I was incredibly thankful for her eyes and her "yeah, no. You are not losing your mind. That's messed up." 

My 3pm was with a client, who was having a hard time with the Google suite of things. One product is used pretty much exclusively by all of our clients and it is a beast. It is hard to manage, and we technically don't support it because we didn't build it. But that leaves folks frustrated and sad. So I try hard to step in where I think I can fix a thing. 

We got close. We had a good laugh. And on Monday there is more to refine with it. But we did get close. 

Doug and I took Toffee to the dog park, I didn't feel well, was hot and sweaty, and it was weird. Low blood sugar? maybe. But before we left I had a snack and by the time we got back I felt much better. We met a black lab mix and her name is Magic. She reminded me a lot of Dahlia, and the two dogs played together so nicely. It was wonderful. Magic was very good at prancing. Another dog came, her name is Luna and she is an 11 year old German Shepherd. She didn't play much but did engage in some running. And barked at Toffee and Magic when they were wrasslin. 

I wanted so desperately to get a haircut but after dinner, it was dark, and I do not like driving around in the dark. Maybe I'll get up early? Maybe? Who knows. 

Off to Richmond tomorrow. Geoff is on Toffee Duty. Thankful that he is here to mind her. Thankful for my housemates! ha. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks. Treadmill for 17 min/1.09 mi. Toffee walk, round trip to dog park; .52 mile in, and the long way home of .78. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 93
4:30pm: 101
10:30pm: 163 

food & meds:
7am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
10:30am: breakfast burrito: One regular carb fajita wrap w/ 2 eggs scrambled, 4 slices of crumbled bacon, some goat cheese, sauteed onions & wilted greens, and a bit of shredded cheddar
1pm: met+glip
5pm: hummus + crackers snack
6:30pm: cheese tortellini w/hot italian sausages, and red sauce
vodka+diet tonic

Housemates

One of the things I truly dislike, and I did it to myself last night, is waking up to dishes in the sink. I'm the default dishwasher loader of the family, and last night I just did not want to deal with it. Just... meh. No. So I set some things up to soak after dinner and said fuckkity bye to it all. "I'll deal with it in the morning." 

And then. There I was. 8:30am, sucking it up and doing the dishes. Before coffee. Be proud of me. And of course, in less than 90 minutes of everything being clean The Boy comes up and makes food. More dishes. More mess. While I'm sighing heavily and trying not to scream at him to not make a mess.

I've gotten after him so much in the last couple weeks about fucking cleaning up after himself. Thing is, he always thinks he did clean up after himself! But then I stand there and point to this thing, and ask why there are onion skins on the counter, and why didn't you wipe this. That. The other thing. 

"But why is there tomato sauce on the counter? Why is there an empty bag of shredded cheese on the counter? Why is there coffee spilled on the counter? And yes, now there are 90 dishes in the sink again. Thanks. Thanks so much." 

There are days, dear hearts, and I don't say this lightly. Days when I wish I lived alone. And yes! Yes I know. I have friends who live alone. They are single (not partnered), divorced, separated, widowed.

They hate it, they pine for companionship. I have one friend that if any of her friends say something negative about their partner situation you get AT LEAST YOU'VE GOT SOMEONE! as a reply. 

Honey, I know. I know. 

We gripe about our "housemates" when others do not have such "housemates." It is only natural. 

Doug and I went to the doctors for some blood work today, 40 minute ride each way. I've cut it close by leaving here at 4pm previously, so today we left at 12:30 and were back by 2pm. 

While we were gone, Geoff brought a whole bunch of books upstairs that he must have know I wanted brought upstairs. He didn't put them in exactly the right spot, but, I don't have to bring these upstairs now. 

So there's that. 

Some days, I'd like to be alone and the only one responsible for cleaning up the kitchen when I am the one who made the mess. And then other days I'm very happy Doug changes the wiper blades on the car, and cleans up the dog shit in the yard that 2 feet of snow left behind for us. And Geoff makes dinner most nights. I don't have to even think about it. 

There are pros and cons to this life. 

In other news, my cousin's birthday is tomorrow. Will make a point to be up early and text. We're driving down on Saturday to visit. And he has some huge agenda of stuff we're going to do for his Big Day Out when all Doug and I thought was we're taking him out to dinner. 

He started blowing up my phone with calls and texts at 10am when I was in scrum. So once his texts revealed this was not an emergency I just let it slide until we left to go to the doctor. 

"What's up?" I texted him. 

He wanted to get a haircut Saturday and DESPERATELY needed me to tell him what time we'd get there. 

"Dude." I replied. "It depends on how fucked up Virginia is between my house and you. 2 hour trip took almost 5 hours last time. We're planning to leave before noon. Don't make a 9am appointment. Aim for 3 or 4. We'll try to leave earlier than 11. That should math." 

Then he texts 900 times about how he really needs us to be there in time to take him and is 3pm okay? Can I make an appointment for 3? (I let him stew there for 15 minutes before writing back). I told him yeah sure go, 3pm make the appointment. 

He made that appointment and then another appointment for 3:45 just in case. 

Doug said to me, "The facility he is in has people who come in and cut hair. I know they do. I worked at nursing homes. Why does he want a haircut out in the world. The facility provides." 

So I asked him that and of course got:

1. It is expensive
2. They only come once a month
3. They do a shitty job
4. I don't want to use any of the services at this "facility" 

Okay. As I predicted when I told Doug that he was going to come back with reasons why not, he sure did. 

THEN he says "I thought we could go to the museum when you get here, if it is before 11 (not happening dude) and then get the haircut."

"??????" says I. "What museum? I didn't have a museum visit on my dance card." 

He assumed we'd come down Friday night and stay at a hotel (no. 95 on a Friday. No fuck right off no fucking way) and then we'd be available Saturday morning to go to a museum. 

"The museum is free," he says. 

That's nice. So nice that the museum is free. Not going to a museum. We will be there to take you for your haircut but no promises we'll be there earlier.

I got the impression he thinks this is Ferris Buehler's Day Off with a full day of us motoring him all over Richmond to do fun stuff. 

Bro. For real, Bro, this is taking the piss out of me just to get in the car and drive down to take you to dinner. I'm exhausted already. I've been crazy busy with work. Please do not expect us to take you all over hell and half of Virginia to do things. 

I know he is cooped up, he's bored. And its his birthday. Which we didn't think he'd make it to. And he most likely won't make it to next February 20th.

But please, just ... the haircut and the dinner. That's our joy and celebration with you. It's what I can muster. And then we are northbound and down on Sunday morning. 

He probably wants us to take him to brunch Sunday. To be honest, I'd do brekkie with him. But I want to be clear from Richmond by 2pm at the absolute latest. 

After work today, I hit the treadmill. Then, I did more unpacking of stuff. Organized the books that Geoff so lovingly brought upstairs. I went into the basement into the area I want to make my office and I moved around boxes, and I honestly can't believe there is still more stuff to go through. Why, Lord? Why do I have such stuffs?

I unpacked two other boxes of books and put things on the Gary bookshelf that Geoff stole to the basement. I moved all the pieces of his drum set into the water cooler room and I'm thinking of reaching out to the local FB page to see if there is someone who wants to come help him set the drum set back up. Where our furnace is, there is TONS of storage, so I moved a shit ton of boxes in there. 

I swept the staircase that goes to the basement because I noticed how messy it had gotten. And I also noticed the staircase going up to our room is also kind of in need of a swiffer or wiping. Tomorrow. Not tonight.

For some reason I felt incredibly restless this evening so it is good to feel that way and channel that shit into action. Usually it is baking, but I'm trying not to bake lest I eat all the cookies.

And happily, the dishwasher is loaded and running before bed. Nice clean kitchen to welcome us in the morning. 

Digits below this snugglebeast who insisted on wrapping up into fleecies and usurping my sweatshirt. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min/1.3 mi; raining so no walk for the dog. 11k+ steps by bedtime (thanks to all my futzing).

blood glucose:

8:30am: 137
5pm: 145
10:45pm: 112  

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
9:30am: apple w/pb; some mixed nuts
12:15pm: met+glip (on my way to the doctors for blood work, took earlier than usual) 
2pm: turkey and muenster on 647 white w/lite mayo
6pm: pierogis, mixed veggies, kielbasa. White wine.
8:45pm: met+glip

Not much to report

Yinz, i'm wiped out today. Just basically wanted to record the digits. I did two walks, so yay me. It was colder out today than yesterday and I underprepared for it, so Toffee and I cut it short and did a little more than a half mile 3 block loop. 

Tomorrow I am supposed to get blood work done, and so I may leave in the middle of the day - no meetings scheduled, so I blocked off the me time. Doug is overdue for some lab work so I'll see if he wants to come. 

My big big project for the day was getting the recycling boxes out to the curb and I did about 80% of what I wanted. Big fat difference down there. Still, more boxes to come...

Toffee is fast asleep and I am right behind her. 

More tomorrow! Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Two walks, one on the treadmill 24 min/1.5 mi. and one with miss Toffee because she needed it, 15 min/.62 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 127
4:30pm: 126
9:30pm: 123  

food & meds:
8am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
1pm: 2 porkchops left over in sauce, topped with more sauce from a pot roast, and the veggies from that 
1:30pm: met+glip
3:30pm: some pita chips and pub cheese 
6pm: some sort of "chicken paprika" that Geoff got a recipe for. Not the best meal. But I didn't have to cook. 2 chicken thighs, some tomato based sauce, onions, garlic; scoop of white rice 
7:30pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
8:30pm: met+glip

Fog Pivot Kismet

Today, I got up super early. I got out the door before 7am. I thought hey. The fog they forecasted isn't so bad. Well. It was. In my neighborhood it seemed okay but the main drag through town to get to the highway, it was a challenge. If you could see the tail lights in front of you, you were lucky.

Once I got near the highway, Waze redirected and told me to go straight, don't get on the highway, take the side road. But with as bad as the fog was, I didn't want to risk it and drive on roads that I'm not 100% familiar with. 

The side road winds up through the mountains, and people drive like crazy. Two exits from where I live, and it said I'd save 5 minutes over all? Sure, but I could risk my whole ass life. 

No. I'll go sit in traffic. Thank you very much.

Thing is. Waze didn't tell me this. I was between my exit and the next one, when we ground to a total halt. It is a 3 mile stretch between exits. Traffic was 100% stopped. 

Just sitting. Sitting. We are all just sitting.

I decided after two hours of this sitting, I would give up and go home once, I got to the exit. 

Truly disappointing - my buddy Jeff was meeting me for the Tiny Desk,  so I messaged him. The GPS said I was not going to get to the metro until close to 10 am, then it is another hour thereabouts to my office once I got on t he train. I asked him if he minded bailing and he was cool with it. 

Once I got near the exit, I was surprised to see emergency vehicles blocking the entire highway, and a fireman directing traffic down to the ramp. 

I sat on the ramp for another 20 minutes because everyone ahead of me was trying to cross the state road and go back up onto the highway. But the traffic over there to get back on the highway was still not moving. Someone should have been directing folks to not try to get back on the highway.

I had to pee. Desperately. 

I thought about driving south down this road to the Sheetz, just to pee, maybe get a brekkie sandwich. Maybe sit and work for the day or at least until all this nonsense cleared up. 

I managed to get to the end of the ramp and turned north to get back on the highway going west, praying that it would stay clear for me. And it was. I got home at 9 something. Messaged my boss who just happened to be at the office to surprise me because he was very excited to go to the Tiny Desk too, and we booed very hard. 

Sometimes shit happens for a good reason though. 

My cousin posted to Facebook that she and her husband were at a hotel, socked in with the fog and waiting for it to clear, about 2 hours down the highway from me over by the Shenandoah Mountains. They basically would be driving right by our house by about 4 miles. 

I suggested they drive-by hug. 

She said she wasn't sure because they had to make tracks (I expected that response) but in the end, they decided to come on by. 

Overall, I think they were here about 20 minutes, and we had a super sweet little visit. 

And if I'd been at the office, this would not have happened. Kismet, right? 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Took Toffee for a walk. 20 min/1.13 miles. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

6:45am: 132
4pm: 147
10pm: 107  

food & meds:
6:45am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
7:30am: protein shake
10am: several homemade popovers w/goat cheese and raspberry jam
1:30pm: met+glip; can of tuna mixed with field greens, bacon, a little mayo
4pm: mixed nuts
6pm: bowl of meatballs & sauce (no roll)
some white wine
8:30pm: met+glip

Still in my unboxing era

Yesterday I did a lot, today I did some more but not as much. I'm trying desperately to get the random stuff that is everywhere consolidated, repacked (if necessary) and stowed away. Part of me says that in theory, I could Marie Kondo some of this, because none of it brings me joy. It's just disorganization that drives me bananas. 

Doug had brought back a blue bookcase from his mom's and I noticed it was not in the mud room. So yesterday I asked Geoff if he'd taken it to his room and he said yes. 

I sighed. 

Did you think to ASK if you could have it because honestly, I could have used that somewhere else. And it belongs to your dad so you overstepped. 

Doug said 'meh, it's okay.' and it is, because I'm not going to make him unshelf whatever he shelved. 

I made a big dent in the mudroom, and I think once we get the recycling out of the house, it'll feel more free. Doug also brought home his bureau from his old bedroom, which we are giving to Geoff, but I'm going to suggest we keep it up in the mudroom, which is right by the laundry room, and he fold his stuff and keep t-shirts/underpants/socks in there. 

I can't see us schlepping this thing downstairs. 

Today I did a ton of user testing on our product, and I have problems and questions. I have notes. I wanted to say "perfect, no notes!" like one would do in theater. But I have notes. 

We have a standing meeting at 10am daily, and lately it has been going a whole hour instead of the 15 minutes we budget for it. 

I am sore today. Not sure why. And my stomach hurts. Jeeeze I hope I'm not coming down with something. 

Tomorrow I'm going to the office so there will be no unboxing from me. I have a 6am alarm set, shower and go. The bag is packed, the ID is stowed, the only thing I have to do is pack this laptop and the power cord. 

I'm off to bed. A little earlier than usual, but I truly am feeling kind of assy from the something. Not sure what. Hoping to sleep it off. Whatever it is. 

Digits, below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 20 min, 1.27 mi. no attention span for this today but ... did the mile. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 132
4:15pm: 91
9:30pm: 202 (*very close to when I took my meds, I usually test closer to 10:30. we'll see how the morning goes)

food & meds:
8:15am: jardiance (waiting on phentermine)
9:15am: last of the pan banging chocolate chip cookies (no guilt! lol) 
noon: bowl of blt salad w/goat cheese & pepitas
1pm: met+glip
4:45pm: bowl of spicy cajun trail mix & mixed nuts)
5:30pm: creamy broccoli and cheese soup (w/bacon!) a la Geoff
8pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Galentines and Get Stuff Done Days

I was so tired last night so apologies to C for not posting an entry. I know she looks for things to have something to read. But you get a double post today. 

Our girlies weekend kicked off with just a day visit yesterday. I left the house at 9am, stopped at our bank to deposit some checks and traffic made it that I didn't get to S's house until 10:30 when I'd promised to be there by 10. It was funny because I completely forgot there was a branch of our bank right by S's house and I could have gotten her and then stopped. Moving away, you forget things. 

I was very sad to drive past a favorite restaurant and see it closed. Doug said we moved out of town and they went out of business! 

Traffic was merciful to us on the way to H's north of Baltimore. If you know where I live, you know how far I drove from here, to Silver Spring, to north of Baltimore... 

But it is worth it for the girlies! 

My task was to stop and get champagne for the mimosas, so S & I stopped in at a little place near H's house (since the restaurant I mentioned was closed down, so was the beer and wine store that was attached. Such a loss... so sad!) 

We picked up a couple bottles and saw they had these super cute boozy presents, with Cutwater cocktails, candy, little stuffed animals. What a smart thing to have for sale on Valentine's Day at a liquor store as we're on our way to brunch. We grabbed H and R each a bag, and I put the cookies I'd made into each bag. 

It looked very much like we planned it ahead even though we bought them 5 minutes before arriving. 

I am not good at planning ahead for gifts sometimes, so I am your retail point of sale target for cute shit. Keep that in mind, retailers! R had little stuffed animals and candies for me and S. So gifts all around for the girlies!

We played with H's cats, chatted, caught up, and ate. H made a lovely spread for us. Because I was driving, I didn't have a lot of mimosa action, but what I had made me happy. 

You can see H's cat David Wallace up in the window there. Her cats are so sweet. It was nice to get some kitty love. 

After we ate we played Cards Against Humanity. I've never played it so they gave me the run down on the rules. It is kind of like Apples to Apples, which we played a lot with the kids when they were little. But grosser. S said they have "clean" family friendly versions, but they're actually quite boring. A lot of the answer cards in the family version mention pooping or farting, which some families STILL find disgusting and not appropriate. 

I remembered one of my college professors telling a class that he and his wife were at dinner with their three daughters and some of their daughters' friends, and somehow they started joking around about farts. And the girls were screaming laughing. 

Even evangelicals can find fart jokes funny, y'all. Farts are funny. Don't you ever forget that. So I smiled thinking about that memory and played a card where the answer was Donald J. Trump and it was disgusting and I won.

Have to say I did very well, didn't win (R did) but when the goal is to be gross and ridiculous, not just funny, and you make your friends scream because they literally didn't expect you to put down certain cards, I call that victory.

S had made plans for us to do an escape room. Escape rooms are her thing, kind of not mine. But her husband and son were coming up to meet us, and R's husband was coming from their place nearby, and seven of us took it on and beat it with 10 minutes to spare. 

I would kind of enjoyed just playing more Cards Against Humanity, but this was fun too. S and her family are very very very into the escape rooms and solving puzzles. It can be intimidating for me. I'm easily confused and I fail if the challenge is too hard. 

But winning with a team is always fun. We each had bits that we solved. Hen and I found the UV light money, and figured out the password to the computer. 

After the escape room, R and her husband were headed home to get ready to go to the Baltimore Symphony for a date. H, SS&H went to dinner, and I headed home. I got home before dark, which is lovely. It's still light at about 6pm so that worked out perfectly. 

S is planning to host our next shenanigans, whenever that will be, and I'm already looking forward to it. 

When I got home, Geoff had made dinner. Doug did a few things around the house and yard. He replaced our windshield wipers on the mini, cleared more snow out of our driveway so now it is 100% accessible. It was over 50 degrees yesterday so a lot of the snow and snowcrete on the ground is gone. Ready for this all to be finished at this rate. 

I needed to get my mile in for the town challenge so I hit the treadmill after dinner. Kind of a mistake because my belly was full of food and blah. No running, just walking, and getting it done. I crawled to bed at 10 and passed out. 

On Sunday we somehow woke up very early. It was raining, and Doug had a case of the Olympics, and then he went and took a nap at noon. 

I had hoped we'd do something fun, but that didn't happen. So I hit the treadmill, and started futz about with putting some things away. I cleaned up some boxes for recycling, took all of our luggage and duffel bags down to the basement and put them away. Doug had suggested we put all our shoes into this little cubby closet in the bedroom so I put all mine in there (I do not own a lot of shoes) and located all of his from the mud room, and put them in a laundry basket for him to sort through. Some are keepers and some are maybe just lawn mowing shoes at this point. 

Then, I looked at some of the basement situation and emptied out a couple book boxes. I stacked up some plastic boxes that were just hither and dither all over the place to compact things. Geoff has several half emptied boxes that are mostly trash now (in my opinion) and I want him to sort those so tomorrow I'll see if he wants to have at it and get some of the empty boxes up out of the basement. 

Once I have the lingering boxes put away I think I actually have no further excuses, I should set my office up downstairs. A project for another day! All told, a decent weekend.

Digits below the pic of us girlies. 

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/1.63; 10k+ steps by bedtime (almost 11k, but I just could not. lol)

blood glucose:

8am: 83
xpm: n/a
10pm: 143

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
8am: large pan bang chocolate chip cookie
noon: scrambled eggs w/cheddar cheese, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, some fruit salad, 1 piece of toast; 1 mimosa
1pm: met+glip
6pm: piece of chicken parm
8:45pm: met+glip

Sunday digits

exercise: x/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/2.01 miles; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 103
xpm: n/a (forgot to test)
10:30pm: 142

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine; small piece of pb pan bang cookie
11:30am: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
12pm: met+glip
6pm: 3 slices of buffalo chicken pizza
8:45pm: met+glip
white wine (3 glasses)