It Isn't Thursday After All

I felt like today was Thursday all day. 

I messaged my sister and told her to do her football picks before the 8pm game. Nope, that's tomorrow. My boss and I had our WEDNESDAY check in, and I wished him a happy christmas and great vacation since he is taking Friday off. But nope, no Chris. He's working tomorrow. I can wish him a happy vacation tomorrow in our team meeting. 

The extra good news is that I now have two whole days to do my QA work, which I thought I was going to cram into one day. Huh. Hooray. 

You ever have a day like that where you're disconnected from the calendar, day, date, time? 

No picture today, I realized it is super late and the dog is fast asleep and there are no cookies or anything yet because of my cold. 

Off to bed. Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10, 5400+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 202
5pm: 162
10pm: 180

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
10am: pbj sandwich on 647 wheat, and I just realized the PB is low sugar too. no wonder it tastes crummy.
12noon: metformin
1:30pm: last slice of tomato basil sourdough w/butter
2:30pm: several slices of ham
3pm: slices of pepperoni
6pm: chicken parm and some pasta
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts

Back on my bullshit, part 2

Last year at this time I was in the midst of enjoying 2 weeks of no Doug and Geoff in the house, as you may recall. They were on their Boys' Trip and I was cleaning, decorating, and baking cookies. 

This year, I've done none of those things. Doug and Geoff are always here, well, Doug is mostly. Geoff is at work and he leaves to walk down the mile and a half to the hospital at noon daily. Good for him. If he wore a fitbit... And I feel like they are perpetually in my way.

Anyway, I'm delayed in my production line of cookies this year, and Sara and Henry want to come over and decorate cookies with me. Last year, if you recall, we had two nights solid of us decorating cookies, and those were good fun times, filled with immense joy. 

I'm not feeling up to it really this year not because of any "real" reasons other than malaise. I am full of "meh" and just want to lay on the couch, cuddle the beast, play with my phone. 

But I'm going to rally. And started with step one. Organizing the m&ms. You gotta have red ones and yellow ones separated out. Red for Rudolph's nose, remembering straight from last year when Henry yelled "If his nose wasn't red he wouldn't have PURPOSE!" Still kills me. And yellow for stars on trees.

I only got as far as organizing m&ms and having ideas and aspirations. Tomorrow is a new day. I feel like I'll mix dough and start rolling in between meetings and work things. 

Time to make the cookies.

Digits, below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   no dedicated 10. 5500+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 177
5pm: 165
10pm: 241

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
9:45am: 2 slices of mike's sourdough, toasted w/butter
noon: tiny container of left over tuna casserole, metformin
6pm: chili, with fritos, cheese, and sour cream. Metformin+jardiance
through the evening: tempted by handfuls of m&ms, 3 beers

Comfy Cozy

Doug was taking a nap the other day and Toffee jumped up behind him for a snuggle. That's it. That's the blog entry for the day. Digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps.   Somehow missed 7pm, distracted by something. approx 5200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 143
4:30pm: 174
9:30pm: 195

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
9:30am: pbj on 647 bread
10:45am: small ramekin of mac & cheese w/hamburger; metformin
12:45pm: big ass BLT salad with special guest, cucumber
6pm: 2 big bowls of tuna casserole
6:30pm: metformin+Jardiance

Play Date!!!

 Last night we went to our friends M&M for dinner. It's been a while since we've seen each other. Doug and Geoff had some time with them at a brewery when I was up in Massachusetts, but I think it was super hot, summer time, when we last got to hang out. Mike had a motorcycle accident Labor Day weekend, and he's making progress. He worked super hard to do the food and cook (and bake!) and I'm sure he's gotta be sore today. Ouch.

Michelle was willing to have Toffee come up and visit, to see how well she'd do with their dog. His name is Watch, and he's 11, and has been an only child for years but he has opportunities when he's with other dogs, so she thought it might be a good visit. And she was willing for us to just try it, and sequester them if need be. 

We got to the house and Doug and I had decided a great FIRST opportunity to meet would be out on a walk. Neutral territory, not inside Watch's house, just out for a walk. I went inside to drop off some of the food I brought, and Geoff brought up the beer. 

Mike smoked chicken wings and made sauce for toss. The dogs came back from the walk, came inside, came upstairs, got treats, and Doug and Michelle both reported it was a good experience. Toffee wanted to play, but Watch kind of snipped at her and barked, and she got the message. They had one snappy exchange in the house because, again, miss thing wanted to play. But she did so well with taking the hint and didn't fight back horribly. 

Dinner was fantastic, and we had a wonderful visit. It's a long ride back home so we got back here just before midnight. And the dog was wiped OUT. 

A very experience, and I'm hoping to find someone more her age/size who may be a willing wrastler and chaser because she could use that. 

Anyway. Today I'm feeling absolutely blah. I'm wondering if I picked up a cold in DC the other night, because I thought my sore throat was for me cheering for Karina but, I now feel a little fevery and my eyes are heavy and stingy. Like the start of a cold. Upping my vitamins and heading to bed at a decent hour. 

Here's a couple pictures of Toffee and her new (only) friend, Watch.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   no dedicated 10. approx 4500 steps by bedtime. Pouring rain out. blah.

blood glucose:

9:30am: 143
4pm: 174
9:30pm: 163

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
11am: 2 small slices of homemade sourdough bread w/butter; Metformin
4pm: ramekin mixed nuts
6:30pm: bowl of cheese steak meat/cheese/mushrooms; Metformin+jardiance

The Rhode Island Angel

Jess called me today from Rhode Island. They left their wallet at grandma's house when they went over for a little side quest there. 

Doing so, they realized gas was needed for the car, and stopped to fill'er up. No biggie, we live in the future where you tap your phone on shit and stuff gets paid for. No wallet, no problem.

But their google pay/phone tappy dealie wouldn't work at all. They went to another gas station and same. Again elsewhere. Called me to see if they could put my Cap1 card on their google pay thingie, in case the problem was their account somehow, and it wouldn't go through - just was spinning into oblivion. The girl at the cashier said they couldn't punch in a credit card number manually into the system, they weren't allowed to do that, so if you try to pay with any sort of method other than cash at this point, you wouldn't be able to pay. And see first paragraph. 

A lady at the gas station found a scratch ticket with 5 bucks on it in her car and gave it to Jess, which managed to get about 20 miles worth of gas into the tank, and they were over 50 miles away from home base at Old Folks Land. Super kind gesture but according to the gas prediction thingie on the dashboard, they only got up to 30 miles out of this kindness. 

Knowing they were on the brink of freaking out, I called my friend Alex who lives in Rhode Island, about a half hour away from the place where technology fails to work. Alex was actually at his office, even closer, and immediately said he'd go rescue the stranded traveler. Within 20 minutes he was there and the car was gassed up. 

Jess was exceptionally pissed because the future, where we live, sucks when technology will not work and we are so tied into it. Trying to get ahold of Google to find out what was going on with Google Pay absolutely impossible. Was the problem in Rhode Island, in the interwebz, was it Jess' phone, her bank. Why would none of this work?  They've never ever had a problem with this. And then to find out that the cashier couldn't even manually run my card was an extra level of frustration. 

So thank you RI Angel, dear heart. And thank you to all the friends in the world I have who can and will help my family. I've been rescued before while stranded (oy, Blizzard, Rte 1, something blew up in our car and it flooded with smoke... Amy M came to get us IN A BLIZZARD!!!!) and I'll never forget C taking my brand new, not yet fully vaccinated puppy when I had to make an emergency trip to Western Pennsylvania for a funeral. There are dozens more examples of me picking up the phone or texting someone and saying "hey, so there's a problem and I could use some help if you're free."

I'm a lucky person, and I know it. 

I asked for photographic evidence of the rescue and they obliged.

Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps.  Somehow missed 8pm but thought I was totally there... 6000+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 167
4:15pm: 171
11:30pm: 174

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
11am: ham and cheese sandwich on Keto bread
1pm: Metformin
2pm: BLT salad
6pm: grilled wings with buffalo sauce and hot spicy korean sauce, potato salad, chex mix, tater tots (only about 6), 3 beers 
7pm: Metformin
9pm: hot peppermint tea w/lemon

Always show up for the opener - Karina Rykman and Coyote Island at the Atlantis DC

Last night I went out, on a school night, to go see Karina Rykman at the Atlantis in DC. Worth it.

My friend Dave asked me "Does Guster know you're cheating on them," and he pretty much has asked me this every time I've gone to see a non-Guster show. Like Amythyst Kiah, Counting Crows, Ben Folds, and others. 

And to be honest I would hope they'd be super happy that I went to see someone who has opened for them. 

The chain of custody is: 

• Barenaked Ladies introduced me to Guster (officially)
• Guster introduced me to Marco Benevento, Karina is in his band
• Karina started playing out with her band, and now she's introduced me to her opener on this round, Coyote Island 

The Atlantis opened last year, in the same spot as the original 9:30 Club. And the 9:30 Club's current location is right in front of this spot. The capacity is about 450 people, so it is a super small venue. 

My friend Tim and I met for dinner, and we were waiting for another friend to join us but he was stuck in traffic. Tim and I got there right after the doors opened, knowing we'd have about 45 minutes until the opener would hit the stage. Hardly anyone was there and I was a little concerned. But, have a beer, check out the crowd coming in, and eventually the hearty hardy souls would arrive 

Coyote Island was a lot of fun. I mean, what a joy to watch these guys play. They're from Maine, of all places, and while I personally am not into a lot of the white-boy-reggae island jam kinds of groups, I really felt the vibe here and thought they were a perfect opening act for Karina. And remember, you should always show up for the opener. You never know who you're going to see! 

Karina and her band (Adam November on guitar, Chris Corsico on drums) took the stage. It is kind of funny to seem them rather spread out until you watch Karina at work. She's everywhere. She's bouncing, hair dancing, bending backwards, her bass is about as tall as she is, probably weighs more too. And they just do not stop. They do not stop. I wanted to leave the rail and go upstairs and look at the show from above but didn't want to lose my prime viewing spot. 

Her sister was standing next to me (I found her on Facebook and verified her existence and their relationship so that was kind of cool). The two of us just cheered and laughed, arms in the air, and big sister yelling at the little sister about all the things, and Karina hearing every word. Just watching her perform is outstanding. I always say to people I'd like to be as happy at work as Karina is. Oh and when they did Song 2 by Blur, the place exploded. Absolute roof blowing moment, and she seemed absolutely overjoyed. Also Genius of Love is a favorite of mine from the Tom Tom Club so standing right in front of her singing my ass off as she's channeling the Mother Goddess of Rock and Roll Bass players, Tina Weymouth, such a vibe. Thanks to the rando dude who took the picture of the set list and texted it to me so I can relive all the tunes. Goin' up, Goin' up, Elevator.

I took a ton of pictures, here are just a couple. Digits for today below. And please know, I got my "dedicated 10" last night plus a couple solid hours. Whew!

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  No dedicated 10, ended day with 5200+ steps

blood glucose:

8:30am: 155
4:30pm: 162
10:30pm: 174

food:

coffee, water, hot tea
9:45: pbj sandwich on 647 bread
11am: bowl of mac&cheese w/bacon; metformin
7pm: roast chicken dinner w/ roasted potatoes, stuffing, carrots; metformin+jardiance

Back on my bullshit

I met with my friend Matt tonight to finish rolling a character for a D&D campaign. 

He had about 5 of us who wanted to play, with him being the storyteller/game master, and they did episode 1 a couple weeks ago but I had not finished rolling my character. I started, but wanted his guidance.  Tonight we buttoned her up, and she's ready to go for episode 2. 

There were 2 of us who could not play when they first ran the game, I was at my mom's and it just was not going to work out for me to spend a couple hours uninterrupted with her there. 

Now we can play. I'm looking forward to it. Greatly.

Today was a very busy day, I wanted to go to the market at some point and also get some headphones, but didn't get out of the house to go to Target or Best Buy. When my dog ate my headphones I really should just have ordered some online that day because they'd be here now. Such is life.

Doug is going into the office tomorrow, so it isn't necessarily mandatory for me to work with my headphones on, and I really should run out before Geoff goes to work at noon. 

Speaking of Geoff's work, he said things are going very well so far and he's happy. It is a part time job, but I am hopeful he'll work his way, no pun intended, to a full time job there. I asked him if he's going to get his Associates next year and he said he'd like to, but wants to keep going here for a while. 

I wanted to get some things cleaned and ready and organized for cookie baking, but today just was too busy to fit that in. I should have just made some dough and got that started but again, too busy. Tomorrow's a new day.

I don't think I'm going to do the big cookie mailing like I did last year. That was a lot. I think I'll do a limited shipment of cookies, and my friend Sara and her son Henry can come help me decorate them any time between now and next weekend. A few people will get cookies but not the 20 or so who got last year. 

Anyway, I ate a lot of oreo cookies tonight and regret that. 

On that note, off to bed. Tomorrow's a new day. And you can enjoy that picture of Doug and Toffee relaxing on the couch tonight as I go to bed.

Digits further down below. 

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10. 5100+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 162
5pm: 165
10pm: 180

food:

coffee, water 
9:15am: 2 egg omelet w/ left over sausage, mushrooms, 1 slice of gouda cheese
12:30: pb&j; metformin
5pm: vodka tonic
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance; 2 bowls of pot roast
8pm: several oreo cookies

A little snow and a lot of toys

This morning we woke up to a dusting of snow. I heard pellets of something hitting my bedroom window around 4am, but I figured it was just the pouring rain mixing with a little sleet, since it was obviously cold enough for it. 

I didn't expect actual snow to be on the ground! Doug took Toffee out and she did a pee and came right back in. I missed it, probably not a "baby's first" moment since she's about 18 months old but I wanted to see if she'd run like a bullet train at 900 miles an hour around the yard in it the way she does. Nope. She noped right back into the house. Southern Dog! 

Early morning dog is a very active dog. She's very busy. She loves to play, tries to wrestle but puts teeth on you and you have to stop her from doing it and kick her off the couch, and give her a toy she can actually bite. She then loves when you throw that toy down towards the bathroom and she'll fetch it, bring it back, wash-rinse-repeat for quite a while. Eventually she'll settle down to not wanting to run and chase, and she'll just hang out chewing on things. 

Today she ripped apart the llama, and alligator, and a dinosaur that has a tennis ball inside it, all of which were left over in the Phin box. Soft stuffies stand no chance with her. Her Kong Fox and "Chewbaru" car both are lasting, so those may be her only close to stuffy things she gets. Everything else is hard or a rope. She came to us with a monkey who's face is pretty much torn apart. Her foster mom said "yeah this isn't a good look but it's her favorite," when she gave it to us. We totally got it from having previous dogs, and we get it with her. 

Every day, all over the livingroom there are toys and chewy things. C sent a set of teething keys (which she's slowly demolishing, slowly) and an elk horn, which is tough and not being demolished. I bought a bag of bully sticks at target last night, and she worked on it all morning, happily on her dog bed, in a sun beam, like a little princess. 

Every night I swoop through the living room and gather up all the toys, and put them in a box. It reminds me of having a toddler and having all the toys all over everywhere all the time. Only a toddler will learn to help you put them away in the box or basket. Toffee has no interest in helping clean up.

After my first morning meeting, I took her out again. She did a pee and then turned on the jets. She ran all over the yard but not as much as usual because of the snow, but enough to make me laugh. I made a snowball, and she can't catch at all, unlike all the other dogs we've had in life. I handed it to her and she ate it. Phineas did not like ice cubes or snow balls, but Toffee seems to be a big fan. When we make a drink with ice cubes, she's right there standing by our side when we take the ice out of the fridge. 

One really amazing thing about her is how gentle she is when you hand her a snack or food or treat... she just so gingerly and gently takes it from your fingers or your palm. It's rather sweet. 

Digits below the sunbeam princess.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10. 5400+ steps for the day.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 223
4:45pm: 149
10pm: 229

food:

coffee, water 
10am: protein shake
12:45pm: tuna on 647 wheat; metformin
5pm: trail mix ramekin
7pm: piece of french bread pizza w/ sausage and mushrooms; metformin+jardiance, vodka w/low carb cranberry

Well Baby Checkup

This'll be a double post day. Aren't you just so lucky. 

We took Toffee in for her first visit with our vet today. Hard to imagine this is Dog #3 for us since being here. Came with Brodie, got Phineas, and now Toffee.  I feel like dogs last a long time but these 5 years have had some shortened dog longeivity. Not true really, I mean Brodie was like 13 when we let her go, and Phineas was almost 13, but only ours for 2 years. 

Toffee is 18 months, so she should be with us for a good run. Long may she be. Long may we be.

The vets at this office rotate shifts, so the vet that saw us through saving Brodie's life that Thanksgiving wasn't in, and the doctor who saw us through Phineas' tenure with us is a Tuesday/Thursday doc. We met a new to us doctor working with the adorable vet tech who helped a lot with Phineas. We had a lovely visit. She was super sweet and showed off her excellent sitting skills and puppy-rugging much to everyone's joy. 

She weighs 60 pounds (her paperwork says 57) and the doc said she should weigh in the low 50s, so, she should get on a good frequent walking regimen and get weighed again in 6 months to see how she's doing. 

We're not giving her people food, and she eats 2 cups of kibble a day and the food bag says she can have up to 4. She gets lots of reward treats, so I'm happy just giving her a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening. She doesn't seem to complain. 

So far, aside from being MUCH stronger than I am, she's a pretty delightful friend, and a very healthy delightful friend.

Lunch and Errands

It was absolutely pouring today, and I knew Doug wouldn't want to do anything. A colleague of mine was in town and asked if I was free for lunch today so yes. Yes. Yes, I am. 

We met at a brewery near me where I could take the metro in, and not have to worry about trying to park near where she's staying. We sat, sipped, chatted, and since we've never met in person before, it was really wonderful to have this time together. 

After lunch, I had to go to Target. We were out of basics and essentials like dog food and paper towel. I've been out of shampoo for a while, and had been rummaging through the closet to find hotel shampoos that we've stolen over time (I always steal a handful of hotel shampoo, especially when it is very good smelling). 

Target was a shit show, so crowded, such a mess, and I lost my list when I was walking around so I know I forgot a few things that would have been clutch to come home with. But we have dog food and we have shampoo. And that's pretty sweet. Tomorrow Toffee has her first vet appointment, I have no medical records yet from the humane society so I'll reach out to them (again) in the morning to see if we can't get them. And I do have to get a new set of headphones, since mine were a good meal. 

Here's a picture of me and my coworker. Such a nice time to spend together today. Here's a picture of us. 

digits 

exercise: 10/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 9 am for sleeping in and 1pm due to being in discussion at lunch. no dedicated 10 but I did walk a shit ton in Target. 7000+ steps for the day

blood glucose:

10am: 194
6pm: 243
10:15pm: 251

food:

coffee, water
11am: small ramekin of mac and cheese, metformin
1:30pm: beer; small caesar salad and broccoli & cheese soup in a breadbowl
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30: 2 cluck pucks w/melted american cheese; tater tots; vodka tonic