Spare a Rose, Save a Child

Today I decided that I was donating one rose in honor of each member of my Type Awesome team: my husband and our five children. Yes, I love the smell of roses, but these aren't real flowers. One "rose" is only $5 (USD) and provides one child with Type 1 diabetes life-saving insulin for a month. My donation to Spare a Rose, Save a Child will provide a child insulin for six months! Please consider making a donation today!

Diabetes Art Day 2014

Here is my contribution to Diabetes Art Day 2014:

In the middle of the darkness that is diabetes, I find a bright area of my life with the DOC.

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Rant Alert

I'll warn you up front. I'm in a mood to rant. Complain. Stomp my feet. Throw a tantrum that rivals the tantrums of my children. Yes, I'm cranky!

Why?

Because I have diabetes.

Because it's Superbowl Sunday.

Because this day centers around.... FOOD!

Not just any type of food. Carb-filled food. Chips. Dips. Munchies of all kinds filled with carbs.

How is a diet/exercised controlled Type 2 supposed to cope?

It's not easy. My glucose levels went higher than I'd like. I was able to stay under 200, but barely.

This isn't just a matter of feeling fidgety, slightly sick to my stomach, and thirsty. I know that high blood sugar can lead to complication. Keeping my glucose levels under control keeps me off diabetes-related medications and insulin.

Yes, at times like today I almost wish I was on insulin. Almost. It would be nice to be able to bolus for food days like today. Yes, I know that being on insulin has a lot of other issues, but this is my rant and that's how I feel right now.

Tomorrow is another day. It's a lot easier for me to keep control when I'm at work. I can only eat what I bring in my lunchbox, unless I go to the vending machine but I need money for that and it's downstairs and across the building. I also have an amazing coworker who has a child with Type 1. Unknowingly she keeps me in line.

Guess it's time to put away the rest of the snacks, drink some water, and get ready for tomorrow.

Disclaimer: This blog post was written while cranky with high blood sugar levels under 200. Any typos or ramblings are not the fault of the author. She chooses to blame it all on diabetes!

Blue Fridays 2013

Every Friday during 2013, as well as World Diabetes Day, I wore at least some blue in recognition of Blue Fridays and posted a picture. Below is a slideshow video I made from those pictures.

The song, "Hold Me, Jesus" by Rich Mullins, means a lot to me. When I'm feeling discouraged, this song helps to encourage me. I found it fitting to use that song in the video.

This is my first attempt at making a slideshow video. Considering, I think it turned out alright. Enjoy!

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.

NaBloPoMo Fizzle

I had intended to do NaBloPoMo (National Blog Writing Month), but realized that there were days I was posting rubbish just to make sure I posted. If you haven't noticed, I took a break from my blog and purposely didn't post because of this.

I had to take a step back and think, "Why do I write this blog? What is my purpose? Is it to post every day?" I write this blog as a way to share my life with Type 2 diabetes. I don't write it to impress anyone with my number of posts.

So that is why I stopped writing. I needed to get back on track with the purpose of this blog. It doesn't bother me that I didn't meet the challenge of NaBloPoMo. It bothered me that I felt pressured to do so.

Prayer

This was the end of one of the prayers we said today at church.

It spoke to me!

Prayer and music calming my heart.

Peppermint tea settling my stomach.

Working on finding that comfort.