Lovely Saturday

My first thought when I woke up this morning (at 8AM!! - sleeping in is so awesome!) was 'a blissful day with no commitments'.

Then J. reminded me we have tickets to the Modesto Symphony tonight - and amazingly enough, I was excited to be reminded.  It's Rhapsody in Blue and Fanfare for the Common Man - and H. is actually going with us!  And we're doing Sizzler for dinner!  ('cuz they have burgers for H. - and/or steak).  It will be a second late evening in a row but we'll be OK.

We headed to Thunder Valley not too much after 1PM yesterday as planned and of course, as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, the rain started.  There were a few white knuckle moments for me as the driver on the freeway - mainly when big rigs were tossing up so much water, it was hard to see - but we made it and luckily, there was light rain or no rain all the way home.

We are in possession of a certificate that entitles us to a free 7 day cruise on Norwegian cruise lines. We have 60 days to call and book the trip and travel has to be within the next year.  Totally free except 'taxes and port fees'.  Of course, it won't be totally free 'cuz there's no way I can do an inner cabin - I need a window and hopefully a balcony - and we don't exactly have evening wear though our friends who cruise often say there's very little issue with that these days.  Unless you're seated at the captain's table, it can be more casual.  And it says 'some meals' so we'd have to upgrade to 'all meals'.  Still, we're looking over the catalog and trying to decide where to cruise to.  The easiest is out of Los Angeles - the Mexican Riviera - but J. has already been to all but one of the ports we would spend a day at - so I'm not sure.  He's interested in Alaska and I guess I am too - so maybe that's the best option.  We're going to decide and call by the end of the 60 day window to see how much the actual cruise would be.  March, 2017 would work as would October, 2017.

I did not win at slots and we were home before 8 so it was a nice time but quick.  We ended up not eating together 'cuz I got on my favorite slots and didn't want to lose the machine - J. had the buffet and I ate finger foods at the cruise event.  But as J. said 'we've had 4 hours of travel time with lively communication - including politics which I enjoyed more than I thought I would.  My husband is very knowledgeable about so many things and it was nice to talk through things I'd heard, factor in things he knows.

You can have a lot of conversation around how in the hell America is actually looking at a Presidential candidate who is a horrible human being....but that's where we are in 2016.  And you can argue til the cows come home that his opponent has her issues as well - but....seriously.  There's no comparison, in my opinion.  Making mistakes and taking responsibility for them is one thing.  Being an asshole of a guy - who commits sexual assault on women because he can - because he's 'famous' - no matter what other mistakes his opponent has made, she's a stellar person who's life has been about serving our country in the many roles she's held.

Today, we celebrate the 27 years and one month anniversary of our engagement and it's a beautiful, sunny day after an afternoon/evening of rain.  Chloe isn't feeling too well - she had a lunch bag feast night before last when somehow, my lunch bag was on the floor again - we left quickly for our nutrition class and she feasted on a couple bites of leftover chicken fajita, edamame (shelled, thank goodness), nuts and raisin trail mix and carrot sticks.  She was unwell this morning - declined her breakfast - but a little bit ago, she had her waggly dog tail back and was a little more animated.  She also (finally) finished her first breakfast - and she's not asking for seconds (yet) so we aren't serving her.

Update:  J. told me 'today is the anniversary of our engagement' and I was all 'oh, yeah...yay us'! Four hours have past and after a phone call from him about stuff at Costco, I'm thinking 'today is NOT our anniversary - 'cuz this is OCTOBER not September.  So the paragraph above had to be modified slightly.

We are finally scheduled to sign for the refinance next Friday so it looks like it IS going to happen - and in a moment of 'really?  Seriously?  OK!', because our property taxes and insurance are due within the next 60 days, we would have had to pay them - and the likelihood of having proof of those payments in time for the now 'rushed' closing (because they've been jerking us around for two months and the rate lock ends in 16 days), they offered to roll those payments into our loan amount and pay them out of the escrow.  So miraculously, those amounts now in savings for those purposes can be moved to 'regular' savings - thus providing cash flow to help H. with tuition and books and ensure that no matter how short notice of a ticket we need to get for B. to be home whenever he can, we can do it - no problem.  Yes, I should technically just send in those amounts with the first new payment as 'extra principal' and immediately pay them down - but I'm not really going to worry about it - having that unexpected increase in savings is a blessing - so I'll accept it!

Fingers crossed it all works out the way it's supposed to.  Considering this is our current loan holder; it was supposed to be easy and painless - it's been none of that - I'm still skeptical.  But there's no doubt we qualify for whatever amount the loaned amount will be and no doubt we can afford the payment - so it should be fine.

Today, I'm on a 409 mission - I see places that need 409 - door jams, light switches, etc. - I want to go around with cleaning cloths and my spray bottle and clean, clean, clean!

Sunday Mantra

Food!

The Great British Baking Show has reruns of 'Master Classes' - the two judges prepare the recipes the contestants have made.  It's nice to see how the results are supposed to look and to have the experts go through the process.  I'm really excited to try some (all, really - though no idea when I'll have the time) of the recipes - over the holidays sounds like a good time.

So I started the day watching a Master Class which had me starving and now I'm still starving. Facebook is full of food which I shouldn't eat.  I've had breakfast (Cheerios and fresh strawberries - no sugar.  Not even Splenda this morning.  Just plain); two eggs and a piece of whole grain toast for lunch.  Bone broth for a snack.  I'm hydrated and still starving and craving something decadent and taboo.

I've distracted myself cleaning my desk - getting into the corners and dusting where the dust bunnies lurk.  I need to just start tossing stuff - I end up with little bits and pieces of things that maybe I'll need somewhere down the road?  But not likely.  Just the normal 'junk' that ends up in the junk drawer...only my desk here doesn't have a junk drawer.  (Maybe it's 'cuz all the drawers appear to be filled with junk).

We cleared 50 hours off the DVR in preparation for series premiers - new season will fill up the DVR pretty quickly so we're trying to prepare.

J. reminded me that I never heard from the third party vendor that will be supplying me with my glucose meter and supplies.  Guess I will email the doctor to ask about that process.  I'd like to get an idea of where I'm at - especially considering that up until Friday, I'd had zero sugar.

Though I know that it's really not about sugar....it's how my pancreas isn't working the way it should to produce/not produce insulin appropriate to where my blood sugar is.  So no matter how carefully I eat, I will still have high sugar and swings that the medication hopefully modulates - at least tries to.

Learning a lot and we have the first of two nutrition classes this week - trying a class together first and then can still request a one on one with a nutritionist if we need it.

We're eating leftover Frito pie tonight for dinner to avoid wasting it -

This coming Friday, J. and I are planning to head up to Thunder Valley for the evening.  We actually booked a room but it seems likely the better plan is to go up early afternoon (to avoid Friday traffic heading up to the mountains) and then attend the 'event' at 5PM.  Something about offering us a 'free' cruise - we're intrigued enough to want to check it out 'cuz a free vacation (or lower cost cruise, at least) is worth the trip.  We've never done a cruise and friends of ours have and love it.  There's not a ton of gambling budget at the moment - but I'll play small and hope for some big wins - and J. said he's fine not really playing.  We'll have a buffet dinner and a little more play (hopefully) and then head home before it's too late in the evening.  Sleep in our own beds and slide into the weekend.

I think I'll post this and then shut down the computer for awhile while I tackle this side of the desk. Maybe make a trip to OSH for some teeny, tiny storage boxes I saw - for the little things that need a 'place' and can be stashed in a cupboard here.

Sugar!

I went to a meeting this morning and counted on eating breakfast there.  It's our monthly (well, now it's every other month or even every third month) CBO meeting and the host district provides food.

Last time I will ever do that because the only things there to eat were sweet.  Bear claws, scones.

I ate a bear claw.  It was delicious.  I felt no guilt because eating is always the best choice (vs. not eating at all)....but when I returned to my office around noon (it was a very long meeting - usually an hour or so but we had plenty to talk about so it was long), my stomach HURT, I was so hungry.  No protein in the morning resulted in me feeling hangry all day.  That's not a typo.  Hangry is 'angry hunger'.  I try to avoid hangry at all costs 'cuz hangry leads to eating carelessly and really feels like anger.

I ate my lunch (roasted chicken, yams and green beans) and then we had a surprise wedding shower for someone in my office - tons of fun (she had no idea!) and I ate a cupcake.  It was delicious.

Earlier this week, I told J. 'I'm going to enjoy an 'eat anything' meal now and then and so Friday night, I want Frito chili pie.  I (coincidentally) bought what we needed to make it just a few days before suspecting I was truly diabetic so J. made it.  It was delicious.  (I should have moved that 'eat anything' meal to next weekend - the wedding shower was a 'known' but I should have realized the morning meeting might be an issue).

So today was clearly a hugely not great nutrition day - but there were some small victories.  First, sugar made me feel awful.  Completely 'off' all day and just couldn't pull it together as well as usual. The highs and lows of sugar's effect were really noticeable - and I missed the nice, level feeling I've had the past few weeks sans sugar.  (Today was truly the first sugar I've had in over 3 weeks).

And...this is the hugest 'win':  a friend of H.'s sent me some candy that's been sitting next to my computer for a few days.  In the past, having eaten hugely badly, I'd be thinking 'what the heck - I blew it completely today so why not just eat the damn candy bar'.  But I didn't.  I enjoyed my 'cheat' dinner completely and didn't indulge in any more sugar today.  Just told myself 'no'.  Didn't use having to indulge a bit (and/or made bad choices and failed to plan ahead on the food front) as an excuse for adding more sugar to the day.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to good eating - bone broth in the morning (it's a really nice warm drink; has huge amounts of protein, very low in carbs and is very satisfying as a snack), eggs and maybe a piece of toast (weekends are the only time I eat toast).  Back to normal and no sugar.

We saved the roasted chicken carcass and I'm going to make some home made bone broth to have this week.  I've been buying some that I really love but I'm going to see if I can make it on my own as well.

I'm glad it's the weekend - it was a long, long week and I'm really hoping to sleep in tomorrow morning 'cuz I've had pretty lousy sleep most of the week.

Next morning meeting, I'm going to tuck a container of plain yogurt and some frozen berries into my bag for meeting fare.  Or have some nuts in my purse to munch on.

Possible Snow

A lady I played slots with yesterday mentioned the forecast had snow at 6,000 feet - so I didn't linger too long this morning.  I woke up at 7 and while I would have loved to have gone back to sleep, I bolted out of bed and got the day going.  I skipped the buffet breakfast and played what I had to play. Slots were not kind this morning - bummer!

I was heading out of town shortly after 10 - gassed up the car and made a Starbucks stop and had the first sugar I've had in over a week - three petite vanilla scones were breakfast.  The temperature in Reno was 60 and sunny and just past Truckee, the temperature was 45.  I stopped in Auburn for Jim Boy tacos and then hit rain - drizzles off and on most of the way home until I hit San Joaquin county. J. says the back of my car is a mess and I'm sure it is - first rain in a while and the roads were filthy. I used my back window wiper at one point and it was just smearing mud all over the place.

J. trekked to Costco to pick up my final 'doctors order' supplement and went late enough to bring home a roasted chicken for dinner.  Along with a few bites of roasted yam, it was a delicious dinner and will likely be delicious lunch tomorrow, too.

The news reported lots of rain and huge hail in Roseville (which I drove through) as well as heavy rain in Sacramento.  And snow! on the road up to Reno.  Really glad I got an earlier start so I missed the hail.

I had a really fun weekend - played long and aggressively with their money and mine.  No life changing amounts (not that I didn't try) but lots of fun.

Happy to be home with my best beloveds and (as is typical for Sunday evenings) dreading work tomorrow.  But I'll survive.

Furrows

I have the world's deepest sleep wrinkle - completely dissecting my left eyebrow right down the middle.  It's been there before but today?  It's huge.  Looks awful.  And there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  Thankful for bangs that while technically in need of a trim are a good disguise over the cavern on my face.  I'm going to have to look around for some plumping and/or I might even consider medical intervention of the injectable variety 'cuz this is serious. I must sleep on my left side more than I realize.

Two beers yesterday led to a decent night's sleep wherein I put crevices in my face without knowing.

The casino is being good to me and I'm playing on their money for the most part.  Still have 4/5 of what I brought to lose and if I stopped right this minute, I'd be up a few hundred.  The next 'random jackpot' round starts in 52 minutes so I'm pacing myself with some time in my room.  Ate an apple. Did a game thing or two.

I'm playing with really fun people and it's been a blast.  So fun to play with folks that are enthusiastic and love to share the highs and lows of slot play with others.  The lady I played with today had a diamond on her finger that was at least 4 carats.  Definitely a high roller.  She lives in Paradise, CA with her husband - long retired - they come to Atlantis every month.  She suggested J. and I buy a 4-wheel drive now so we wouldn't have to skip coming up in the winter months.

Update....I lost the rest of this post - on my laptop and always manage to hit something that wipes out full paragraphs of writing.  I'm down a bit (into my fun money now vs. their money).  The 2nd random jackpot was given away within 10 minutes of the second round starting - so that led to a very abrupt end to what could have been 4 hours.  Everyone participating in the event received a coupon for two free buffets - and that line was HOURS long.

I headed to the Italian cafe instead and had a salad and a small mini pizza - thin crust with chicken and artichoke hearts.  I'm proud of myself for eating carefully - I had the buffet this morning but ate a bowl of oatmeal with raisins for sweetness; one piece of bacon; scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and a very small biscuit with a little gravy.  Dinner last night was a salad and 1/2 sandwich - and I left most of the bread on my plate.

I resisted cotton candy this morning - it's a buffet and they have EVERYTHING all the time - and J. can attest to cotton candy being something I never, ever decline.  But I skipped it.  And also skipped the waffles with butter and syrup.

Salads are delicious when you are really hungry.  I devour every morsel.  Tonight, the five tiny croutons on the salad felt like the biggest splurge ever!!

The furrow is greatly improved 13 hours after I woke up.  I'm heading to bed shortly and I'm going to try to figure out the pillow issue to see if I can prevent it from being quite so bad tomorrow.  I've had Blue Moons again so...not sure.  Will probably just be really glad for long bangs again.

My plan is to get up, have breakfast, play a little - I've hit a machine for a pretty big jackpot two mornings in a row so it might happen again! - and then head home.  Might stop at Thunder Valley - haven't decided yet and it will probably depend on how I do in my brief gambling stint in the morning.

It's been a fun trip and the only thing missing is my sweet J. - we need to come up again before the snow makes it impossible.  Or buy a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  :-)

Today's Workout

brought to you by painting stair risers.  Geez....my legs were shaking uncontrollably and the rest of me felt like Jello - so that's a sign of a pretty darn great workout - no equipment (except paint, brush, wipe cloth, sweat wipe cloth, edger, paint tray) required.

J. is heading to San Leandro in about an hour to visit with his brother - brother's celebrating a birthday today so nice that J.'s monthly visit coincides with a special day.

I painted 9 stair risers in one session - though I'm pretty convinced we are going to need to do a second coat.  Totally want it to look great and stand up to wear and tear as much as possible so if a second coat will make that happen, we'll do it.

H. is already at school this morning meeting with friends.  At least I hope that's where he is.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on my desk and bedroom.

Trying not to obsessively check emails.  I'm off.  I need to be off!

Dinner last night was fantastic.  I love this friend so much and we always just jump back in with both feet and pick up right where we left off.  It was a really wonderful evening - and at some point, I had a thought of 'I have no idea what time it is and it's going to be really hard to get up in the morning' and then I remembered 'I'm off tomorrow!!'.  Slept in until just before 8 which was really great!

OK - I'm re-hydrating while J. does a little more trim work using up the paint in the tray.  Then I'll get to cleaning the equipment and letting what we've done today dry.  Might try to do the second coat later this afternoon when J. gets home - if my legs can take it!