Cake Suicide

Well, I don't have a picture of it. My roommate told me I should have taken a picture. And put google eyes on it. But the Snickerdoodle cake I was to make for my job's Thanksgiving meal decided that it wanted to commit suicide right before I finished. At 10:00 p.m. the night before I needed it.

Just imagine a cake, face down on the kitchen floor....I'm sure you can conjure up a mental picture.

It was my worst nightmare come true. The only positive is that it wasn't an important birthday or wedding cake.

R.I.P. Snickerdoodle cake. R.I.P.

DOC Awards!

Ohhhhh. I LOVE awards. Awards shows on TV, online voting contests, even those crazy "who wore it best" things on the internet. Nerd? Totally.

And there are new awards to check out.

The 2010 Diabetes OC Awards.

We get to nominate for several different categories, and then voting will begin December 9th.

Go check out the page for information on how to nominate someone. I've already got my list started....

#DSMA Guest Post

For those of you who Tweet, most of you probably know about #dsma, or Diabetes Social Media Advocacy. The lovely Cherise is behind this idea. Every Wednesday night, we can "meet" on Twitter to ask questions and discuss specific topics related to diabetes. I miss it every week because I am at church during this time, but Cherise posts the round-ups on the DSMA website.

Several weeks ago Cherise asked me to write a post for the DSMA blog/website for Diabetes Awareness Month. I was honored to do it.

My guest post is up today, so if you have a chance, go check it out. And join in on the #DSMA chat on Twitter every Wednesday evening.

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, there are a few words....

You know you live in the house with a diabetic when you see things like this:

Traveling in Style

Just the other day, Kerri posted this about her long pump tubing and the benefits when working out. Her blog post was aptly titled "Portable Pancreas." The funny thing about the post is that I had this picture ready to post on Monday (I ended up pushing it back a day because I didn't have time to finish the post).

The story behind the picture:

In early October I went on a rather long road trip. I don't know if others have this problem, but when I have my seat belt on I can't always get to my pump easily if the CGMS sensor beeps. And even if I can get it out, I can't easily get it back in my pocket or on my waistband.

The door handle was my solution while I drove. My pump tubing was long enough that I could have my pump lay in the door handle where I could easily access it if I needed to. I wonder if the car maker ever thought their door handle would be used in that way? :D

Music Monday: Lauren Pritchard

My obsession with all things Broadway led me to a new musical discovery. Lauren Pritchard, who's actually from Tennessee. She was in the original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening, and now she's just released an album called Wasted in Jackson. So far, the hard copy is not available in the United States, but the digital is on iTunes and other music outlets.

She's something different and I thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy. :)

World Diabetes Day

Well, I almost failed on NaBloPoMo....and on World Diabetes Day to beat all! But I'm here. And I'm praying that all of you had a wonderful day. Although none of my activities were diabetes oriented (living in the middle of nowhere leaves few options), I thought about it all day and have only just now gotten a chance to get a blog post up.

In Nashville, which is over 2 hours from my house, they lit up the capitol building in blue all weekend long, to commemorate World Diabetes Day. On the Middle Tennessee JDRF facebook page, they wanted people to post pictures they took at the capitol building, but I only saw one. I'm hoping more go up later.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great day, and sorry I'm such a slacker on my blogging...especially today, of all days. I'll make it up to you. I promise.

One Last Chance Folks...

Tomorrow is World Diabetes Day. Click a few more times! Let's reach our 100,000 views. :)

A Lesson in Etiquette

Etiquette. It can be kind of a big word if your vocabulary is small. But no matter what words you use, MANNERS are something we should have been taught as children. Simple things, like not talking during church, or during a meeting. Not jumping line. Turning your cell phone off in a hospital, funeral home, or place of worship.

But some people, it seems, never quite got the lesson. Including the 3 older ladies who sat behind me during a play I saw last weekend. They talked through THE ENTIRE SHOW. Even when I thought I'd be smart and say something about it loudly to my friend who was with me during intermission. But it didn't work, since they talked through the entire SECOND act as well.

For people who aren't aware, it is very rude to disrupt other people while they are at a movie. But at least with a movie, you can rent it when it comes out on DVD. To me, it is even worse when someone distracts you at a live performance. There is no getting that time back. You see it, and you never get that exact experience again. Sure, you can laugh or elbow your theatre buddy. But I have no need for live commentary. I can see the show myself. And I'm sure that your theatre buddy has no need for commentary either.

And for that matter, why do you feel the need to have that commentary be composed entirely of "Oh, that girl sings so pretty!" and "I saw him in two other shows here." and "Where did that other character go? I don't see him on stage anymore." and "Look at that guy dance!". Really, I don't need that. I'd rather watch the show and talk with my friend about it later. Just like you should have coffee with your friends afterwards and discuss the show then.

So, here are the rules for any live show:

1.) Do not talk during the show.
2.) Do not sing along with the performers. If you were that good, you'd be up there instead of them.
3.) Turn your cell phone off. Or at least put it on vibrate.

There are only 3, really. If you follow them, everyone will have a better time at the show. Including you. I promise.

Happy Veteran's Day

Remember that freedom isn't free. Thank a member of the military.

Small Amounts

You've heard it before... "Every little bit helps." And it does. Just the other day I was picking up my prescriptions at Walgreens and picked up this JDRF shoe as well. Because even though I support people in the diabetes walks every year, every shoe purchased it another little bit toward a CURE.

So, just remember, when you think you can do anything to help, if you can find $1 (check the change in your car's ashtray, or between your couch cushions!), you can help find a cure for diabetes.

D-Blog Day 2010

6 Things I Want YOU To Know About Diabetes

1) No matter what type of diabetes a person has, it is NOT their fault!

2) Most people with diabetes don't want pity. We want to teach.

3) Sometime we are in grouchy mood, just because we're in a grouchy mood...not because it is diabetes related.

4) Having an insulin pump doesn't mean I have "bad" diabetes. All diabetes is bad.

5) Low blood sugar doesn't mean I need more insulin. It means I need less. And some sugar to bring up the blood sugar. (You'd be surprised at the number of times people ask me if I need more insulin when I am low)

6) Insulin is NOT a cure. It is just something to keep me kickin' in the meantime. We still need that cure.

I Forgot

Yesterday I forgot it was Lancet Changing Day (a.k.a. Time Change!). Gasp! So, I did it this morning instead.

I hope everyone had a Happy Lancet Changing Day... and if you forgot, like I did, GO DO IT NOW! :P

Already...

...hitting my pathetic attempts at blog posting. And it isn't even half-way through the month yet. Oh, boy. This should bode well for the rest of November, huh? :)

One of my favorite bands, Sugarland, just put out a new CD a couple of weeks ago called The Incredible Machine. This is one of my favorite songs on the whole CD. But, like always, I pretty much love everything on the whole album.

Listen & Enjoy!

More Sugary Treats

These were for a friend's Halloween themed baby shower. If you notice, the cupcake papers have candy corn on them... so of course the icing had to match. :)

This cake was made for a friend's church. They were celebrating Pastor Appreciation Day. I made the tiny fruit out of gumpaste. All the icing is buttercreme.

The verse written on the cake is Galatians 5:22-23, which talks about the fruit of the spirit.

Diabetes Questions

Back in May, when I was on my yearly trip to New York, I got to see A Little Night Music. At the time I saw it, the 2 leading ladies were Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. After I saw it, Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch took over those roles. I'm sad to say that I won't have the chance to see the show with the new cast before it closes in January, but I still enjoy reading about the 2 new leading ladies. I've been a Bernadette Peters fan for most of my life (hello, people... she was in Annie!). But, having not followed Broadway until I was older, Elaine Stritch is a new person in my fan world.

And boy does she deserve the fans. She's won 3 Emmys, a Tony... and too many other awards to count. Just yesterday I came across an article in the New York Post about Elaine Stritch. The title: Where Life is Suite.

The article was interesting. Apparently Elaine Stritch lives in the Carlyle Hotel in New York. Not temporarily. Full time. Kind of fun, huh? Kind of like Eloise...

But my questions came from a comment she made while talking about the hotel staff helping her out.

"I'm a brittle diabetic," Stritch says. "That's about as diabetic as you can be. But I don't have to be nervous. If my blood sugar acts crazy, I just pick up the phone. In a minute, they're here with orange juice or whatever I need. So I never feel alone."

That's where my question runs in.... Is she a Type 1 diabetic? Typically, that's what I assume when people say "brittle" (a term of which I am NOT a fan). When was she diagnosed? How old was she. Curiosity killed the cat. So I'm gonna be one dead cat. I'm on a mission to answer those questions for myself. We'll see how that works out. :)

Theatre Sadness

As most of you know, I'm a huge theatre fan. I follow many different shows and websites, and several months ago there was news on a little girl named Shannon Tavarez. Shannon was 11 years old and had played Nala in The Lion King on Broadway. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and was helping get the word out about lack of bone marrow donors, while they were searching for a bone marrow match for Shannon, herself.

They were unable to find a bone marrow match, but did an umbilical-cord transplant in late August instead. According to BroadwayWorld.com, Shannon had been in a children's ICU struggling to stabilize. She passed away on Monday.

Below is a video of Shannon singing earlier this year at Harlem School of the Arts.




A statement released by the family stated that they would "work tirelessly to carry out her wish through MatchShannon.com"

Some of you may remember that my own niece battled cancer. She is in remission now, thank God. But cancer is not just a disease of the old, just like diabetes is not just a disease of the overweight. I send my prayers to Shannon's family and I hope that her mission to help increase bone marrow donors will be very fruitful.

The world lost a light and a talent. I send my prayers to Shannon's family.

Life for a Child

Diabetes Awareness Month brings a lot of attention to all types of diabetes. I'm proud to say that I'm part of an online community that works so hard to bring attention to diabetes year around. This disease is life altering and can be deadly.

If a person has Type 1 diabetes they MUST have insulin to survive. No pill or type of diet will keep a person with Type 1 diabetes alive. Insulin has to be available.

Sadly, not everyone in the world can afford, or had readily accessible insulin. This is a tragedy in itself. However, in this month of November, The Diabetes Hands Foundation has something called The Big Blue Test. It is an initiative to get those with diabetes active. Exercise is wonderful for those without diabetes. To those with diabetes, it can be better and more stable blood sugars, better insulin sensitivity, and healthier effects on the already strained vital organs.

To promote The Big Blue Test, The DHF has put together a video to encourage those with diabetes to get out there and get active (and to participate in The Big Blue Test, of course!).

On top of that, Roche Medical company is donating insulin for every single view of the video. For each time the video is seen through World Diabetes Day on November 14th, Roche will donate a week's worth of insulin to a needy child.

So, even if you do not have diabetes, or if you don't even know anyone who has diabetes, watch this video anyway. Remember, 1 minute and 49 seconds of your time will save a person's life.

So, watch and pass it on. How many times will you be able to say you saved someone's life?
Oh, and I know many of these people. And each and every person in this video has diabetes or is a family member of one with diabetes.

Attempting NaBloPoMo

NaBloPoMo is this month. I think I’m going to attempt it this year. I did it year before last, and I hesitated to do it this year because I’m so busy right now. But, I decided to give it a go anyway. I was doing well by posting a couple of times per week there for a while, but I have started to slack off again, but I think NaBloPoMo will get me back into the blogging world.

Will every post be about diabetes… NO WAY. I can’t do it. But, I think a lot of the posts will be. It will be hard for them not to be, with it being Diabetes Awareness Month, and the month of World Diabetes Day.
So, wish me luck in this month, and ignore any annoying ramblings that may occur in my attempt to post something every single day of November.

SAE it Loud!

Today is November 1st and the first day of Diabetes Awareness Month. This month is all about making people aware of this disease that so many of us deal with every day.

Last week the lovely Sarah (a fellow Southern gal!) from over at Sugabetic came up with a wonderful idea. It is a fantastic way to get this entire month off with a bang.

SAE it Loud! is Sarah's brain child. SAE (pronounced "say") stands for Support, Advocate, Educate. And these are three things we really need to be doing. Year around, but especially in his month.

For each of these I have something planned that I've either done today, or have done in the week leading up to today.

First up: S = Support. I plan on reading AND commenting on at least 10 blogs today. Finding time... that'll be rough. But I'll do it.

Second: A = Advocate. This I did over the weekend. The Presidential Proclamation on National Diabetes Month had incorrect information about Type 1 diabetes. I used this link to contact them and let them know that they needed to update this information as to not misinform the American people.

Third: E = Educate. I think that this may take a little longer, but I am going to see about writing an article for my local newspaper this month in regards to diabetes and Diabetes Awareness Month. We're supposed to be educating people about diabetes. The different types, treatments, preventative measures for T2's, etc. And I am going to see if I can't get something into the local paper as part of my Educate.