Holiday food hoarder

If your family is anything like mine, the holiday season means extra cooking and baking. Even before Thanksgiving, I was questioning whether or not I could be healthy during the holidays.

I had a great time with Victoria, another member of the diabetes community, during Thanksgiving. But I had a horrible time with my diabetes management during the long weekend. Despite increased basals, site changes, reservoir changes, and every other change I could make, I could not get my blood glucose to stay in range. I was determined not to have it ruin the holiday, so I did the best I could and enjoyed the time with a good friend.

With the memory of my Thanksgiving troubles, I was pretty worried about my diabetes management for Christmas. Not only are the food choices plentiful and sugarful, but I have to deal with traveling across multiple time zones and spending multiple hours in the car. Other than a troublesome Christmas Eve dinner that involved some ill-timed spikes from a glass of wine and delicious homemade bread, I had probably the most consistently in-range blood glucose results of any holiday season in recent history.

Maybe it was because the in range numbers took the focus was off my graph, but I started thinking more about a different holiday problem I experience, and I am hoping I am not the only one.

I am a holiday food hoarder.

Any time there are sweet treats around the house, I want to save them. I want to save them because I might NEED them. If that doesn’t sound like a hoarder, I don’t know what does.

I love baking and I love sharing the final product with family and friends, but sometimes I worry. Last year, my mom and I made some red velvet whoopie pies and when she wanted to give the last few away, we got in a huge fight. I didn’t want to eat them at the time, but what if I was low later and needed a snack? What if I NEEDED those whoopie pies later?

This year I made cake balls and peanut butter cup cookies and my mom made buckeyes. All three treats were the perfect bite-sized snacks. We loaded them up and took them to my brother’s house.

Every time we enjoyed an afternoon snack or a treat before bed, I found myself counting how many treats were left. Not because I necessarily wanted to eat them at that point, but because I wanted to save them for the future – just in case.

Am I the only food hoarder or do you find yourself keeping an eye on your sweet treat counts as well?

A Christmas Tradition

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2010

Apparently, George (and his family) and I were having so much fun we forgot to take a picture. I know we celebrated together, but I can’t find any evidence.

Christmas 2011

My mom is a teacher and receives all types of gifts this time of year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so “healthy” as this particular gift she brought home this year. It seemed like the perfect gift to share for dessert with George and Jaimie. Our typical meet-up location is a local Red Robin, and this year we tried a new one where we will not return. They were out of fries (!), our waitress stole our pepper, and after she left for the night, no one checked back in on us during the last hour we were there to refill our Diet Cokes.

While we still had Diet Coke in our glasses we gave the chocolate chip cookies a try. With apologies to C, I don’t think any of us will have them again. We noticed an interesting scent to them, and unless we were biting into a chocolate chip they were very dry. Dipped in milk, or covered in ice cream, they might be tolerable.

Gluten or no gluten, I love my DOC holiday traditions. I can’t wait until next week when I attempt to meet a new friend while I am at my brother’s!

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My mom and I are now in the midst of baking treats to take to my brother’s house, and they will be filled with wheat, gluten, and dairy!

I sense a theme here

When I get to my mom’s house for Christmas next week, the first thing I will do is check her collection of photo cards to see how everyone looks this year.

I am excited that Christmas cards from around the diabetes online community have started to arrive in my mailbox. So far, I haven’t seen any photo cards. What? You guys don’t ~~torture~~ dress up your pets like I do? But there does seem to be another theme going on.

First, I received this awesomeness from Karen. My knitting skills include making scarves because I can knit and purl but I can’t add or remove stitches (and I don’t know how to correct mistakes either). But Karen, she MADE A CUPCAKE!!!

Continuing the theme, I also received an awesome present from Jaimie. Jaimie has a long history of awesomeness. One year, she gave George, Cherise, and I awesome Humalog ornaments when we were all in California for the holidays. My tree is full of Radko-type glass ornaments so my new cupcake fits perfectly.

Thank you friends!

Feeling the love from the online community is a great way to celebrate the holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

The past few years I have posted the same Thanksgiving cartoon, but it still makes me laugh and deserves to make another appearance this year!

I hope you are all enjoying your Thanksgiving with family and friends.

I don’t have any family who live near me and most of my friends travel home to be with their loved ones. Thankfully (holiday pun), diabetes and social media has introduced me to friends all across the country. Victoria begged, pleaded, and finally convinced me to fly up to Atlanta and take a ~~short~~ road trip with her to her parents’ house and eventually her aunt’s house to stuff our faces.

I’m not sure exactly what we have planned but I’ve heard something about forcing me to go on a hike, watching some sort of football game (roll eagle?), and maybe making a pit stop here.

I’m sure there will be plenty of stories and pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for all of you!

Moments of Simonpalooza

At this point, I don’t know if I can say anything about this past weekend that hasn’t already been said (better than I ever could).

I’ve been asked before why I take so many pictures.

Memories are very important to me. Pictures of the memories give me proof I was there and that I was a part of something. Since I am not that good at using words to explain my thoughts and feelings, I can use pictures to get close to the same results.

It’s a funny thing about diabetes – it may be the thing that introduced us to each other but I don’t think it is the keeps us together. It can’t be. We may talk about our mutual love of cupcakes and Diet Coke, but I’ve also shared about my hopes and dreams for the future and about fears that I haven’t been able to explain to anyone else.

On Friday night, while we hung out at Jess’ house, we watched our tweets displayed on their TV (nerd alert), ate cupcakes, made new friends, and created the most embarrassing signs we could think of. Some of the conversations had to do with diabetes, but most did not. If you watch the video at the bottom of the post, you will see exactly what I mean.

Take a look at this picture. What do you see?

There are a few things I noticed. Look at the faces. Don’t they just make you want to smile?

The other thing we all noticed was our order numbers. Don’t they make you think a little of blood glucose values? We may have made that joke a few times and wondered who would need a juice box… or a cupcake.

Yes, most of us were meeting Simon for the first time. But there were also a few other first time introductions. You could say that a few people were excited to meet their new friends.

I was certainly excited to meet some people I only knew from online and old friends that I had not seen in a while, but I was especially excited to see our Australian friend. Maybe a little too excited.

I am still waiting for my answer.

What was my favorite part of the weekend? The whole thing. I really, truly believe in appreciating all the little “moments of wonderful.”

Creating your own personal #hashtag gang sign.

Trying a glucose tab for the first time ever.

Having the opportunity to thank someone for saving your life.

Being inspired by someone’s story and joining the “bald is beautiful” club.

Holding up the wedding dress of a random bride so she could use the restroom before her husband “ravished” her.

Hanging out until 2 am with your favorite sisters.

And then showing up the next day wearing the same outfit as one of them. #likeyoudo

I stayed an extra day to spend some quality time with Jess. Her mom left a comment on my facebook wall, but unfortunately she got some information wrong. She wrote that she was glad that I am in Jess’ life to help, support, and pray for her. No one could be more grateful than I am. Everyone deserves a friend in his or her life like Jess.

So when some diabetes nonsense got in the way of our Monday plans, I had just as much fun sitting at her kitchen table telling stories, looking at pictures, watching videos, and reading blogs. And maybe sneaking into the bathroom with my camera to capture a little bit of what’s it’s like to stay with a friend who has diabetes.

Where this is normal.

I loved all the Moments of Simonpalooza.

You Make A Difference

There are so many pictures and so many stories from this weekend; it is hard to know even where to begin. I am sitting on my flight home trying to process everything, and trying not to beg the pilot to turn the plane around.

I think the best way to honor the memories of this weekend is to focus on the power of our community. There is no secret handshake, long application, or membership dues and it is probably a group none of us wanted to join in the first place.

Despite that, our community has grown into something amazing. The nature of my occupation is very transient so it is difficult for me to maintain support and friendship for too long. It won’t hurt when people leave, if you don’t get close to them in the first place.

Then I turn my computer on. You know how I feel. You listen to me. You understand. You care about me. You accept me just the way I am. You support me.

You make a difference to me.

And you make a difference to Simon. He may be speaking to Cherise, but it is a message for all of us.

There are tears. You have been warned.

No D-Day – What am I Doing Here?

If today is No-D Day, then why am I sitting at the kitchen table in this stranger’s house?

Why is some dude flying in from Australia to hang out with us?

And most importantly, what are we going to do with all these cupcakes?!

The first time

If you look at the sidebar to the right of this post, you will notice that I have met quite a few blogging friends.

I travel about once a year for work, and there is usually at least one new friend close enough to meet. For example, last summer a conference in Missouri brought me close enough to see Sarah Jane. I have attended several conferences for diabetes, and that has helped me meet a few new friends too.

Tonight will be a first for me. Usually my travels for work or diabetes advocacy lead me to meetings with friends. The meetings are a side benefit of some other responsibility. Tonight I will be getting on a plane for no other purpose than to meet my friends in Kansas City.

I’ve packed a few outfits (what the heck is fall?!) my camera, video camera, various iDevices, chargers, insulin, and all my other diabetes accessories.

I can’t wait for all the unforgettable moments to come!

Faith Friday: Thank You

Short, sweet, and to the point this Friday. I am so thankful for each of my friends and family across the country and (because of diabetes) even across the world.

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers.”
~Philemon 1:4

Never have I ever

Have you ever played the game “Never Have I Ever?” If you have, don’t worry, I will be keeping this round G-rated.

Here are the basic rules of the game. First you put all ten fingers up. Then the group takes turn naming things that they have never done, hoping that someone else in the circle has done it. If you have, you have to put a finger down. Last person with a hand up is the winner. You can see how it gets inappropriate sometimes.

I’ve also played it the opposite way, where you name things you have done that you don’t think other people have done, and that’s more like the version I’m playing today. I’ve been thinking of all the random, fun, and exciting things I have been able to do because of diabetes and I want to hear what other would share in the game as well.

Never did I ever…

Think I would have the motivation to take a picture every day for a year for the d365 project. I’m thinking of doing it again but I need a good start date.

Consider that my face would be on a t-shirt used to raise money for an organization working to cure diabetes. Is your face on there too?
Realize that some of my closest friends would live all over the country and stay up way to late on google+ hangout to spend some time with them.
Wonder when I checked my mailbox if it would hold a letter from a dear friend in Australia.
Count the days until July each year so I could attend a conference designed just for people with diabetes and their families.

Meet a friend for the first time at a conference in July and make plans shortly after to fly to her house for a long weekend of fun (and probably one of the largest meet-ups ever!). I guess that makes sense, since I once got into some random dude’s truck just because he had a blog and diabetes like I did.

Have pictures with a variety of celebrities (and have an opportunity to even meet them in the first place) because of our connection to the same autoimmune disorder.

Hope every day was Wednesday so that I could hang out on Twitter and chat about everything related (and not so related) to diabetes. P.S. Have you seen this video yet?

Feel hopeful about inserting pieces of platinum, silver, and steel into my body because I knew it would make me feel safer today and healthier tomorrow.
Plan to take what could be considered a drinking game and post it on my blog to see what people with diabetes “never did they ever” think they would do.

I’m curious, what would you say if you were playing this game?

Moments of Wonderful

…rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

Category Archives: friends