Best of the 'Betes Blogs for November 2013

This month I have been once again honored with selecting the Best of the 'Betes Blogs. Each month, nominations come in and someone (this month, ME!) gets the honor and privilege of selecting a few of the many awesome and amazing blog posts to highlight.

First I want to start with an apology. I'm not just a mom of five, wife of one, and Type 2 diabetic. I also work at one of our local public schools during the day and take six semester hours of graduate classes. That is why this December 1st post is being written on December 6th. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Now on to the blog posts!

Best Vlog:
Briley at inDpendence shared some amazing videos that she participated in with two other people with diabetes as well as a mom of a child with diabetes. These videos have some great insights about the feelings of dealing with diabetes as well as some helpful tips.

Best Use of Photography:

How can I decide between Sarah's creative way of keeping track of site placements and changes (La Osita Blog) and the adorable baby of Kim's baby for World Diabetes Day in her blue circle hat (Texting My Pancreas)? Luckily I don't! I decided to pick them both for this category!

Best Advocacy:

Martin at Diabetically Speaking gives some tips for dealing with changes in medical coverage and what he found out when his insulin went from preferred to non-preferred status. 

Best Post by a Type 1:

Jacquie at Typical Type 1 shares her feeling about being a member of the "diabetes mafia". Diabetes has its ups and downs, and it's nice to share it with a friend. Even if that friend lives in your computer or is someone you never met before, it doesn't really matter. We're all part of the club.

Best Post by a Type Awesome:

This poem by John at Neurotic City almost brought me to tears as he expresses a father's emotions when his child is diagnosed with diabetes and as she grows in confidence.

Best Motivational Post:

Loren has taken over the blog, Welcome to our Crazy Happy Life, previously written by his wife, Shamae, who passed away in October. What an inspiration!

Best Comments:

The email I got with the nomination didn't contain and specific examples, but I know from personal experience that Karen at Bitter-Sweet Diabetes gives plenty of encouragement.

The following categories didn't receive any nominations:

Best Recipe

Best Reference to a D-Celebrity

Best Story of a D Meet-up

Best non-D Related Post

Best Post by a LADA/ Type 1.5/ Not otherwise specified

Best Post by a Type 2

Best story of a D-mistake

Best Diabetes Art

A little shout-out to the other bloggers that were nominated as well as those who did the nominating:
Briley
Christopher
Frank
Laddie
Sara
Scott
Stephen
Tina
(Yes, I did just put those in alphabetical order. Blame the teacher in me!)

If your blog was selected as one of the spotlight posts for November, you are welcome to include a Best of the 'Betes Blogs badge on your blog. Here is what you need to know to do that.

Replace all [ ] with < >. [div align="center"][a href="http://www.bestofthebetesblogs.com" target="_blank"][img src="http://momentsofwonderful.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/bbblogo-final-e1309479808835.png"][/a][/div]

Thank you all for the opportunity to read all of the amazing posts that were nominated for recognition! I promise that next time that I volunteer, I will make sure it's not two weeks before finals.

@BestBetesBlogs February 2012 Winners

What an honor to be the host of February's Best of 'Betes Blogs. I so enjoyed reading all the awesome nominations! Without further ado, the winners are... *drumroll*

Best Use of Humor
Kim (Texting My Pancreas) had me LOL (literally) while reading her poem Shooting Arrows At Diabetes.

Best Use of Photography
Who doesn't like seeing adorable pictures of a little baby wearing a cupcake on her outfit! Lisa's (Lisa From Scratch) pictures are just plain cute!

Best Advocacy
Rachel (Tales of Rachel) touched many hearts (including mine!) with her post Be There.

Best Reference to a D-Celebrity
Sharing her experiences with Sam Talbot's cookbook, The Sweet Life: Diabetes Without Boundaries, Katie (1LittlePrick) shares her experiences with some yummy recipes that are easy on the carbs.

Best Story of a D Meet-up
Catherine (A Diabetic Ballerina) shares with us her touching meet-up with a DTreat friend here.

Best non-D Related Post
Life changes aren't always easy. Laura (Houston...We have a PROBLEM!) talks about her upcoming difficult transition from SAHM to single mom.

Best Post by a Type 1
Jess (Me and D) shares the ups and downs of diabetes in her blog entry Spilling My Guts.

Best Post by a Type 2
Sometimes it would be nice to live in the fairytale Kate (Sweet Success) writes about in the entry A Diabetes Fairytale.

Best Post by a Type Awesome
Wendy (Candy Hearts) helps PWDs understand how much our Type Awesomes are affected by diabetes. We can all related to her statement, "I'm not the same."

Best Post by a LADA/ Type 1.5/ Not otherwise specified
Getting the equipment you need sometimes involves a disagreement with insurance, illustrated by Ashley (Tales of SWAGing) in her post Dexcom SOS. 

Best story of a D-mistake
Being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager with diabetes is even harder. In her first ever blog post, Hannah (type1teenager) shares some mistakes she made and how a brutally honest doctor helped to turn her around.

Best Motivational Post
Scott (Scott's Diabetes) reminds us, when trying to clean out the garbage in our lives, how important it is to have a good friend... and a flashlight.

There were no nominations for the following categories:
Best Vlog
Best Recipe
Best Diabetes Art

Congratulations to all of the winners! If you would like to have this logo on your blog, please follow the instructions:
Replace all [ ] with < >. [div align="center"][a href="http://www.bestofthebetesblogs.com" target="_blank"][img src="http://momentsofwonderful.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/bbblogo-final-e1309479808835.png"][/a][/div]

A special shout-out to those who were nominated or made nominations:

Maria ~  Bob ~  Briley ~ Kate  ~ Jess  ~ Amanda  ~ Brian ~ Sara ~ Scott ~ Scully ~ Mike ~ Colleen ~ Meri
I had so much fun reading all of the nominations. Thank you for the honor of hosting Best of the 'Betes Blogs this month!

Best of 'Betes Blogs: Nominations Needed

(How's that for some alliteration?)

This month I have the honor of hosting February's Best of 'Betes Blogs. How exciting to be allowed to read all the awesome nominations!

Here are the categories:

• Best Use of Humor
• Best Vlog
• Best Recipe
• Best Use of Photography
• Best Advocacy
• Best Reference to a D-Celebrity
• Best Story of a D Meet-up
• Best non-D Related Post
• Best Post by a Type 1
• Best Post by a Type 2
• Best Post by a Type Awesome
• Best Post by a LADA/ Type 1.5/ Not otherwise specified
• Best story of a D-mistake
• Best Motivational Post
• Best Diabetes Art

Want to make a nomination? Nothing fancy needed. Nominations are due on Tuesday, February 28th.  Email bestbetesblogs@gmail.com or send a DM to the Best of the ‘Betes Blogs twitter account (@bestbetesblogs) with your name and link to your blog (if you have one), who you are nominating, the category, and link to the specific post you are nominating.  (No self-nominations, please.) Look here on March 1st for the winners!