Monday Rocks!

Okay, not every Monday rocks, but this one does. After fighting highs all night long (literally up in the 300s and my CGMS waking me every hour) I got up and went to work. After having 5 days off, I felt spoiled and really didn't want to go in, but that's the life of someone who isn't independently wealthy. :)

Last night, I had made some muffins from a recipe listed in one of my new cookbooks that Kathy sent me. My co-workers were very grateful for white chocolate berry muffins with cinnamon streusel. I thought they were pretty darn good myself. I had 2 for breakfast. Sure, it's not the healthiest breakfast, but there was fruit. And pecans. And chocolate comes from a bean, right??? :P

Surprisingly, my blood sugar actually has run LOW all day long. I've been drinking juice boxes and eating peanut butter crackers for a vast part of my day already. Now one would typically think that a day full of lows would make for a bad day. But after chasing highs since last Tuesday, this is actually a welcomed change.

While I was working this morning, I checked my Twitter account, only to discover that I WON!!!! Again! I was one of the three grand prize winners for the Holiday Survival Sweepstakes over at Diabetes Mine! I've won a Starter Membership to fit4D.com, which can help you with your nutrition, exercise, etc and is ALL related to diabetes! This is an area I need help in sooo much. I don't exercise because I have such trouble with my blood sugars during and after. Maybe this will help me get on the right track.

I love that Amy did this sweepstakes! It's nice to win something once in a while, but the best part was seeing all the different survival tips. It gave me some wonderful new ideas, and also let me know that I was on the right track in alot of areas.

At this point, my day was already looking wonderful. I live only 0.2 miles from work, so I headed home for lunch and on my step was another box.... apparently my Secret Santa's gift didn't all come in the same box. Inside this box was Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor. Another cook book that I will use ALL the time. In fact, I made some muffins last night from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor. I just have to say that Kathy ROCKS!!!!! She has to be one of the coolest Secret Santas ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Secret Santa!

I spent the morning with two of my best friends (and a tag-a-long husband) this morning. We were having out Christmas. It's always been rough for us to get together, but since one of them got married this summer and moved, it's even harder than before. One lives two hours south-east of me and the other (and her husband) lives 4 hours south west.

But, this morning we were able to get together for a few hours and have breakfast and celebrate. It made me very happy. I hope we can do this every Christmas, but I know it's only going to get harder as we marry and start families.

Of course, my friend and her husband and I did a little shopping after the other friend had to leave to go to work. We went to store after store. While it was fun, I am totally BEAT! And ready to take a nap.

When they dropped me off at home, all I could think about was getting up my stairs and taking a rest....until I got to my door. Where there was a package waiting on me! From my wonderful Secret Santa!

I am so glad we got to do a Secret Santa this year. It was so much fun picking out stuff and who doesn't like getting extra presents?? Thanks to Allison for getting this thing together.

Turns out my Secret Santa was Kathy, also known as Araby62 over at Trying To Be Human. She completely ROCKS! I got two books, The Cake Mix Doctor and Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. Two recipe books that let you take cake mixes and make them so much better than any boxed mix could ever be. I am sooo excited.

Yeah, it's kind of a weird gift for a diabetic, but I asked for it. And since my current hobby of choice is cake decorating, it couldn't have been a more perfect gift.

Check out some of these recipe names:

Chocolate Midnight Cake

Pear and Chocolate Terrine

Guatemalan Wedding Cake

Pumpkin Spice German Chocolate Cheesecake

White Chocolate Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel

Marbled Cream Cheese and Kahlua Brownies

Lemon Lovers' White Chocolate Cake

Snickerdoodle Cake

Plum and Cardamom Cake

Easy Tiramisu

Hummingbird Cake

Pumpkin Pie Crumble Cake

Fresh Lime Cheesecake

Orange Almond Angel Food Cake

Tomato Soup Spice Cake

Can you believe some of them?? I can't wait to try some of them out, though there's supposedly 150 in each book, so I don't know how I'll ever try them all.

Thanks so much to Kathy, who ROCKS! If you don't read her blog, check it out. I linked it in this blog post as well as it being on my blog roll on the right side of the page.

Winning and Christmas and Catching Up

I've not had the time or energy to post much in the past few days. I have such good intentions, but I never seem to get around to it. So this is my catch up post.

I WON!!!!!!!!! No really, I did. :P Amy T, over at Diabetes Mine, has been having her great holiday contest. Not this Monday, but the last, I won one of the great prizes. My prize: a great medical ID bracelet from HAH Originals. It had lots of room to personalize and great ideas for info to put on the bracelet.

Now, since I started wearing an ID bracelet on a regular basis (about a year ago), I have been wearing one of the generic $5 ones you pick up at Wal-Mart that simply says Diabetes on the back. It served it's purpose, but I really had been meaning to get another one. This one is great. I was able to put important information on the front, like that I am a Type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump and that I use CGMS. On the back (I don't want everyone seeing all the info, unless they are looking for it) is my full name, date of birth, month of diagnosis, and my emergency contact person and phone number.

Here's a picture:

The best part about it was that it was engraved and shipped the same day I ordered it. I had it in 3 days. Great customer service. HAH Originals has a great selection of bracelets, and if I order a new one, they will certainly be at the top of my list.

Also, Christmas has come and gone. It was rainy and warm here in Tennessee. Kind of sad, since I was hoping for at least a little snow. But, it was still filled with family and love and LOTS of great food (I'm still fighting my blood sugars! Yikes!). Christmas Eve I headed to my dad and grandma's and started dinner. My dad and I cooked most of the day to get a turkey dinner ready. It was pretty good, considering I'd never mad a turkey before...and neither had my dad! My brother and his wife and my nephew and my sister-in-law's son all came over and we had good food and then exchanged presents.

I'm not sure how my brother does it, but almost every year he gets me something that I love but would have never picked out myself or even thought to ask for. This year it was a cool set of bookends (I read ALL the time) that came from Tractor Supply. I'm dead serious. They are really cool though and they look like they have barbed wire on them. Not to mention being heavy enough to chunk at someone's head and kill them. :)

My dad got me some new Christmas ornaments that I needed. No lie. I needed new Dale Earnhardt Jr stuff. I don't have anything with his new number on it... but now I do. :) Pictures below.

Christmas morning I was up early and headed to my mom's to celebrate with her, my step-dad, my baby sister, and my step-grandmother. It was nice. My mom cooked a ham (I LOVE ham!) and I don't get to eat her cooking nearly enough. Though that's probably a good thing for my waist-line. :P My step-grandmother gave my sister an electric organ that she's had for years. It may not seem like much, but it was perfect for my musically talented sister. She was thrilled and even cried (how many 12 year olds do that over a Christmas present?).

I got a radio for my car! Yippee!!!!! I've been without a radio in my car for over a year now. The other one just died and I had never had the money to replace it. It's not usually a big deal since I live so close to work, but on trips out of town it's nice to have. My step-dad and I installed it in my car yesterday before dinner, so I am no longer music deprived. :)

Also, I have been truly blessed this year with Christmas cards. I hang them on the back of my door. The picture I am posting below is actually from a couple of days ago. I have even more now. They are almost all the way to the floor. :) I love Christmas cards. Several of them are from those of you in the Diabetes OC. Thanks for them!

Also, on Christmas Eve I got home from my dad and grandmother's and I checked my mail. Inside was a package. No, it wasn't my Secret Santa package, but it was a package from Jill and her family over at Diabetes Sweeties: My Crazy Life. It was full of fun stuff. Beautiful, handmade jewelry made by Jill herself, and a tee-shirt from their JDRF walk that they did this year! Kacey is even getting awarded the Golden Sneaker for raising $2500 for their walk! How fantastic is that? Jill says the award ceremony is January 11th, so we should all be thinking and praying for them that day.

I know this post is very long and full of information, but I wanted to be sure I didn't leave anyone or anything out. I hope everyone else had as blessed a Christmas as I did.

Merry Christmas

A much lengthier (is that a word??) post will go up, hopefully later today. But for now, I am getting ready to head to my mom's, loaded down with Christmas presents.


I hope everyone in the OC has a great day filled with family and love (and maybe even some gifts).

p.s. This is not snow from today. I have no white Christmas. It's currently 48 degrees. :( So I put the picture up instead. :)

What Happens When A Diabetic Eats Too Many Cupcakes....

I found this picture and this post on a great blog called Cake Wrecks. You can see it's the only non-diabetic blog on my blogroll. I am a cake decorator in my hobby time. I love the act of creating (though if you ask me to draw my cakes, it's a disaster!) this kind of art. I'm not fantastic at it, but I am learning.

Anyway, this one was found on Cake Wrecks just yesterday. When I saw it, I laughed and had to let the rest of my D-buddies know what will happen if we get carried away this holiday season. :)

To Request or Not to Request....That is the Question

I am planning on taking another Praxis test in a couple of months. The Praxis, for those of you who don't know, it the test you take to get your teaching license. The first license I got had only one area of endorsement and took 3 tests to get the license.

I am working on another area of endorsement right now and working toward my Master's degree. There are 2 additional test to get this endorsement. One test I took shortly after I went on the insulin pump. All the previous tests, I was on MDIs.

I have never, ever asked for special accommodations for testing. Not even when I was in school taking the Assessment Tests they make you take as a kid.

I, however, have never taken a test while on CGMS. I am confused about what to do. I may have no problems whatsoever. The last test I took, I was in a car accident on the way to the test, still got there in time and took the test and PASSED! I was on the insulin pump, tested before going into the room. I was pretty high from the adrenaline rush from the wreck, so I corrected, took the test and never had any other problems.

With my CGMS, I am afraid I may have some problems. What happens if it starts to beep during the test (even if I have it on vibrate!)? Will they think I am cheating if I reach in my pocket to make it stop? Or what if I need to test because it is low or high? What if I need a juice box?

With CGMS, I tend to be more consumed with my diabetes care. It makes me uncertain. Should I request special accommodations? Basically, the right to have my juice and meter if needed? Will this mean I have to test in another room?

I have heard so many horror stories of people having the pump ripped out my test administrators. I DO NOT want to risk that. But I fear giving up my "normalcy" by requesting special accommodations.

What do I do? Diabetes OC, things have changed so much since I was a kid. And my diabetes care has changed so much since I took my last standardized test. Do you have any suggestions? What should I do?

Christmas Tree

George beat me to the Christmas Tree post. And he did a vlog. How cool! Well, I still don't vlog, but I did take some pictures last night to share with all of you in the Diabetes OC. I, like George, don't have a themed tree. I just have a random collection of ornaments that I have collected over the years. I quit using garland and changed to ribbon. I have my first Christmas ornament and many that have been given to me as gifts.
By my Angel that sits at the top of my tree, I always thought it made it look kind of country. Being from Tennessee, this is okay. :)

I also wanted to share with you my totally country stocking. I bought it several years ago. It's made from a pair of Wranglers jeans. Patch and all. Very country, but it comes from growing up in the South and being around horse shows and rodeos so much.

The little fellow sticking out at the top is a horse purchased in the gift shop at the Dixie Stampede (Christmas edition). Sadly, since it's just me, that little guy is all that will go in my stocking. That is one thing I miss about being a kid. My stocking was always so fun to open. Almost better than the other presents.

I also wanted to share an ornament with you. This is one of my newer ones. I bought it for myself two Christmases ago. Go VOLS! :) This also comes with growing up in Tennessee. As we say in Tennessee: I bleed Orange.

Anyway, I hope you guys weren't too bored with my totally non-diabetic post. I just wanted to share some of my Christmas with all of you.

The Bad Side of CGMS...

Occasionally you get a bleeder. This one was the worst one I'd ever gotten. It was like a scene from a bad horror flick. There was blood all over my bathroom floor. Kind of gross, but very true. These pictures are from six days after. Before taking the sensor out and after.

The first night having the sensor in, it kept throwing bad sensor alarms at me and I kept restarting it over again. I was being stubborn. I figured if it was going to leave that kind of a mark on me, I was going to at least get my 6 days out of it. And I did.

So Cool!

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from MiniMed requesting I take a survey. I usually try to do this because I want them to keep improving on what they already have. I think it's important to let them know what they need to improve.



At the bottom of the e-mail it said that by responding you would get a $25 Amazon.com gift card (for the first "x" amount of responses). I figured I wouldn't get one, since I usually am late at everything I do.


But this morning in my e-mail was a message with the gift card/code for Amazon.com.


HOW COOL! :D So, I got to spend it this morning purchasing a book I'd been wanting for a while now, but was way too cheap to buy myself (cut me some slack! I'm on a budget!). I got it for $4.70 after the gift card. Thanks MiniMed!



Also, I've uploaded a clip of my little sister singing in our fair's talent show back in the fall. Let me know what you think! We are pretty proud of her. We're just trying to convince her to dance. :) Keep in mind, she's only 12.

Frustrations

November is over and since NaBloPoMo is no more, I decided to go back to my couple of times per week posting. As I said before, blogging is a full time job!

Work has been crazy, family has been busy, and the Christmas season is upon us. I have almost all my Christmas shopping done, which takes away some of my stress, and overall, I am doing okay. Give me a couple of weeks and I may be singing a different tune.

I tell you all this to give you some background info. For the past week or so, my blood sugars are running okay during the day. Then, around 9 or 10 p.m., I start rising. Having not eating since 6 or 7. And they rise and rise and rise. My CGMS was waking my up 2 or 3 times a night to correct. I finally started setting a temporary basal at 110% at night, which keeps me below 200, but still in the high 100s.

There's no reason for this. No (unusual) outside stress. No sickness. No weird foods. Just unexplainable high blood sugars at night. It's gotten so bad that I've been taking almost 60 units of insulin every day. Sometimes more.

It's kind of scary. This hasn't ever happened to me before. I am giving it another week to straighten back out (maybe I'm fighting some sort of infection or something) and then we are looking at a major basal rate overhaul.

I'm hoping it's just a fluke. Or the alignment of the planets. Or something. Apparently I'm not alone in my problem right now.

Any suggestions? Any tips? Anyone else going through this too??

p.s. I found this in my bed when I pulled back the sheets.

Christmas Meme.

Christmas meme! Thanks to Lora!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I like it to match if I can do it and I put curly ribbons on all of my Christmas presents

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. But only cause I don't want to have to carry a real tree up the stairs to my apartment

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually right after Thanksgiving. I actually put my tree up last night.

4. When do you take the tree down? Right after New Year's day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Never tried it. I can't bring myself to.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The Barbie 57 Chevy I begged my parents for. I didn't have any Barbies...I just wanted the car. :) I still have it, broken windshield and all. :P

7. Hardest person to buy for? My brother.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My sister.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have 3.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Christmas cards! Hey, if anyone wants a card, send me an e-mail w/ your address and I'll send one out. :) beth2027@yahoo.com

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A box of old magazines. I kid you not.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping? It depends. This year I'm already almost done. I have a couple of things left to buy when I get paid next.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? That's telling....if I would though, I would wait a year. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything!

16. Lights on the tree? White lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Do I have to pick one? I like 'em all...except The Little Drummer Boy...that one just kind of annoys me.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I stay local. I go back and forth between my mom's and my dad and grandma's.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? An angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve with my dad and his family, Christmas morning with my mom.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People being all stressed out.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I'm not picky.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new radio for my car. I'm tired of singing to myself. :)

P.S. Just thought I'd share a scene from my Favorite Christmas Movie. :)