Plugging along.

 We did not get a lot done today. I put the finish on the countertops. We used something called Rubio Monocoat, which is something Tim's cousin gave him the last time that we were at the Hardwood Mall in Emlenton. Like, 4 years ago or something. I think he forgot he had it. It was just a small bottle, but I rubbed that in, and it brought out the grain beautifully. It's not shiny, but it gleams. Tim's sold on the product. 

Tim has the sink marked out but he wants to cut out the countertop outside to avoid raising all the dust inside. Just about the time that decision was made, the skies opened up. It was raining cats and dogs and showed no signs of letting up. 

We unpacked the range hood, and he's pleased with that, but he did not like the wall mounts with the kit, which would require another trip to Lowes. 

We do get in trouble at that store. Friday we spent $600. Yesterday we spent $300. Today, well...as long as we were going to be there...Tim wanted subway tile instead of the square tiles. (Inconsequential side note? We have 3 boxes of the square tile in the basement.) But he wanted subway tile with black grout. Picture below has nothing to do with our actual kitchen...just meant to show you the look he's going for. 

Don't know how or when that popped in his head, but since we have a black composite sink and the appliances are stainless with black, well, it kind of works. Browsing around last night, I discovered that they had the subway tile he wanted. 4 x 12 for 79¢ each, which by my calculations, we would need about a hundred to do the job, which is kind of economical. As long as you don't consider the 3 boxes of square tile that we have in the basement already, which we actually paid nothing for. Someone had the boxes in their garage for years, and weren't going to use them, so we picked them up because we could use them. Well. We could have if Tim hadn't got an itch about the subway tile. Anyways, so we picked up another $100 worth of stuff today. 

I said to Tim on the way out the door, "We need to stay away from Lowes for a while." He cheerfully said, "We can do that. We've got everything we need for the kitchen." Which is very cool. 

We are still working on the raised beds. 

 I've dropped down below the milestone weight I was struggling to reach. I was dropping weight and then sort of 'plateaued' a few ounces above that milestone. I ran out of lettuce for my evening salad, and didn't have time to get more, so I had a small helping of the regular supper I had for Tim (venison roast with vegetables, lots of vegetables). I had small suppers for the next couple days until I got to the store, and much to my surprise, I lost two more pounds last week, which dropped me under that loss. It is my second 'milestone', so I'm pretty happy with myself. 

My appointment is Thursday, and I will be interested to see if the A1C has dropped from that 6.4. December was my first high reading. With the weight loss, I think that I'm proving that I am serious about this. I haven't had dessert since January. No sugar in my coffee. Two meals a day. High protein, low carbohydrate, and lots and lots of water. 

I didn't watch the news today, at all. I did catch that JD and Usha went to Greenland. The trip was supposed to last from Thursday to Saturday. However, once Greenland got wind that it wasn't just Usha coming, it was JD and an entourage, the invitations were revoked one after another. They could not find anyone that would host the group, and so they went to the only place they could: Pituffik, an American Space Base. 3 hours later, they head home 

(DOGE? DOGE, can we talk about government waste?) 

It appears that the EU and Canada are standing strong. European citizens are being told to stockpile 72 hours worth of food. (Experts are advising that this should be the minimum.) They are preparing for crisis. Because of us. Because of the aggression of the United States. 

I cannot tell you how unbelievably sad this makes me. 

For everyone out there wondering what is wrong with the United states, remember this: Only 17% of Americans approve the Gaza plan, 18% approve the annexation of Canada, and 19% approve the president's plan for Greenland. I hope that's a little comforting.

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/new-polls-little-support-us-takeover-canada-greenland-gaza

While we're on the topic of government waste that somehow DOGE has missed, there's this:  Trump has spent 26 million dollars flying to Mar-a-Lago to play golf every weekend, and he rakes in significant amounts of money by from the government for meals and rooms at his club for his security team.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/trump-golf-taxes

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/03/trumps-golf-habit-costs-taxpayers-millions-author-says-there-is-a-dirty-secret-about-the-president-on-the-links.html 

Elon is supposed to be leaving DOGE in May. I find that hard to believe. We'll see.