The Dorothy Postulation

Over the past 10 days the hubs and I have traveled by. . .

truck. . .

train. . .

tram. . .

bus. . .

boat. . .

ship. . .

plane. . .

ferry. . .

shuttle. . .

our own two feet. . . 

and minivan.

We've soared at 20,000 feet and walked on the bottom of the sea.

We've walked miles and miles within a 1,100 foot radius.

We've seen sights we never really thought we'd see in our lifetime.

We had a vacation and while it was not perfect, we enjoyed relaxing and turning off the cell phones for a while.

Dorothy said it best: There's no place like home.

Shelf

Wow, it has been an insane couple of weeks.

I've had a few spare moments to post an update, but I haven't because. . . well, I'm lazy.

Here's what we accomplished last weekend:

First, since the weather was gorgeous and not so stinkin' hot, we headed outside and attacked the insane bush that was trying to take over our front yard. Like, literally.

[I hear Sheldon's voice saying to me, "Literally? Literally?" Yes. Literally.]

Imagine the branches extending to cover the grassless areas on all sides and that's how huge this thing got. Also, you can see my bro & sis-in-law's house through the trees over there. Hiiiiii!

There are still a bunch of roots we need to dig out but this is a HUGE improvement over the way it looked previously. I'm pretty sure it will come back just as big as ever next year.

Then we took our exhausted selves inside and I started cleaning the mantle that I got several weeks back.

You can see the left crevasse is "cleaned" out and the right one is still dirty. This is even with using my cleaning toothbrush to get in the corners.

Someone (a man, I'm sure) had used wood putty to fill in some of the nail holes and cracks. But they got the putty everywhere and never sanded it off. So I had to use quite a bit more elbow grease than I thought to get it off.
Once it was cleaned as well as it ever could be, I let it set and dry off for a few minutes.

Then my hubs got to measuring. And making pencil marks on the wall. And drilling. And drilling and drilling and drilling.

Ta da!

It's up! The color stands out a little more in person. Our walls are Mourning Dove by Olympic.

Here's how I decided to decorate it. For now.

 After all that, we were quite tired and pretty much collapsed for the rest of the day.

I had spray painted our new light for the breakfast area earlier in the day, allowing it to dry while we were puttering outside. We just need to purchase a new rewiring kit and it'll be ready to hang.

This coming weekend I have set aside to paint the chair I got in PA. Hopefully.

We're also counting down the days until vacation. After the past couple of weeks I've had at work, I sincerely need one.

. . . . . . . . . . .

In other news, our little guy is getting so big! He's over 4 months old now and weighs almost 5 pounds! This is significant because occasionally he still forgets himself and attempts to claw his way up my leg when he wants attention.

I'll leave you with this bit of cuteness: this is his post-dinner snuggle habit.

My First Bullets

Not bullets that you shoot with, bullets that you use in documents. Why? Because I haven't posted in a couple weeks and my thoughts are so scattered that I'm not sure I can compose material for just one blog.

So here goes.

• How do I say that I get irritated easily without sounding like a mega-grouch? Maybe I am. But I've been letting little things irritated me when I should just forget about them. Like at work, when my boss can't bother to remember which accounts are mine and asks me every. single. day. They aren't random, small accounts either. Or when other drivers do something that makes absolutely no sense and have no consideration for anyone else around them? That's not actually a "little" thing, that's big--a public safety thing, as far as I'm concerned.
• I considered taking a pod break on this trip we have coming up. It involves airport security and a cruise--including swimming pools, hot tubs, beaches, and lots of walking. But then I realized how much I love this thing, even if I am running out of real estate to stick it. I have about a 10" x 3" section on my upper stomach where it won't fall off. The backs of my arms work ok, but after the other day, when I went through 3 pods in like, 48 hours, I got frustrated and moved it back to my stomach. It won't build up too much scar tissue if I use the same spots for just a month, right? Right??
• Clothing has me very frustrated lately. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a lot of my winter clothes are not going to fit me. Ok, MOST aren't going to fit me and the ones that do are probably the ones I don't like. But for one thing, it's too hot to start buying long sleeves and sweaters (I'm sweating just thinking about it) and for another, HELLO prices!! They're so ridiculous anymore!
• Clothing Part Deux: I just emailed this to one of my customers (we email back and forth about random topics all day--don't worry, we still get our work done, it's called multitasking!). What is it with clothing manufacturers having a hard time understanding how the human body is built? I mean, like real humans--woman with more than a B-chest. We have small (don't get me started on the x-small sizes--that's so stupid and they don't count), medium, large and extra large. Great. Then when we get to the "larger" sizes things start to fall apart. In my experience, a shirt that is a size 2xl will either be: A. the same length as an XL but WIDER or B. the same width as a XL but LONGER. Now I ask you, how does that help us? If you need a visual of how this does not work, please visit peopleofwalmart.com.
• Clothing Part. . . Three: Ok, I get how manufacturers make clothing the cheapest way possible so that they will fit the "most" people as possible. If you can't fit into it, tough, buy another brand. I was looking at a size chart for something just the other day. . . a dress or a swimsuit cover up, I can't remember. Based on the bust size, I was a medium. HAHAHA! Women who actually WEAR a medium only WISH my bust size was considered a medium. Still laughing over that one. Then on the same chart, for hip size, I was. . . well, let's just say it was several removed from a size medium. But really? Really?? Which size do I go by? The helpfully-provided size chart did not help at all and only caused more confusion.
• I guess the only solution is to get rich and have all my clothes tailor made. Don't even get me started on the colors and patterns out there. 
• Changing topics finally, I am SO excited about our trip coming up in 32 days. Yes, I have a countdown app on the homescreen of my phone. I'm excited to have a "real" vacation for the first time in five-ish years. "Real" meaning there is a beach involved. Honeymoon did not count as a typical vacation because a. it was a honeymoon and b. even though we had a great time, there was no beach. There are so many plans I want to make and places I want to go. . . but then I remember that I don't want to be crazy-busy, I want to sit and relax and not think about anything except when to apply more sunscreen.
 

Now this is a nice sized post that's turned into more of a rant. Sorry about that. Sometimes you just have to get things out, you know?

Deals & Steals

What a week.
Or, I should say, what a crazy past few weeks since my last post!

There's been a lot going on. . . and a lot of nothing going on, if that makes any sense.

I did want to share about my mantle that I found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore this weekend. It was only $35.

I will say that we forgot they only take cash or checks and we had to run to the closest ATM. So. Worth. It.

Here it is on Jeremy's workbench. Notice my well-used drop-cloth. It's a plastic tablecloth I found at Target one time on clearance for $1.

I'm planning on mounting it to the wall above our bed and using it for pictures and various knick-knacks. Yes, it will be secure enough so that it will not fall on our heads in the middle of the night and kill us.

Thank you to my boss for pointing that out.

In other project-ville news. . . .

I have nothing.

I've been lazy (pretty much), and haven't done any of the projects I have sitting downstairs.

That could be because of the snake.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yes, there is a snake in my house. I saw it while doing laundry the other weekend. There was only minimal freak-out followed by the thought, "Just grab him by his itty bitty neck and throw him outside! You can't let him bite the cats!"

(He really was tiny. Not worm-tiny, but tiny enough that I was pretty sure he couldn't wrap himself around my neck and strangle me. Okay, okay, he was like, MAYBE a foot long.)

But when I got back around the corner to grab him . . . he was gone.

GONE I TELL YOU!!! LOST FOREVER IN THE DARK RECESSES OF MY BASEMENT!

Needless to say, the hunt was on.

Also needless to say . . . we still haven't found him.

J is convince he's gone back outside through whatever hole or crack in came in through. Of course we're going to inspect the exterior of our house and seal any holes so he can't decide to make another visit.

So the fear of Snakey-Snake has kept me out of the basement unless absolutely necessary.

BUT with my new mantle comes the need for a trip to Lowe's for some seriously long screws & bolts, so we may as well pick up the spray paint that I also need and get two projects done and out of the way.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the D-front....I get tired of talking about it. Reading about it. Living with it.

I can't control the last, so I'll control the first two.

My trial week with the Dexcom went pretty well. It's an extremely useful tool and the day after I took it off, I felt a little lost. I also felt I had some spare time on my hands since I wasn't taking the extra steps to input all kinds of data into two separate devices.

J still wants to figure out how to play Tetris on it.

So the appeals process has been started with my insurance company. Hopefully the data I was able to gather during my week of use will enable them to make a decision in my favor. If it's going to happen, I need it to happen before the end of the year since I've already met my deductible.

It kind of struck me, the first day of use. Ok, I'm test-using this machine so that I can prove I have low blood sugars that I can't feel coming. . . yet with this machine, I can see them coming and take the appropriate steps to prevent them, thereby not having them. Which is good. . . . but doesn't prove I need the machine. It tells that I need the machine, but there's no concrete, solid evidence that shows it, you know? Maybe I wasn't going to drop that low before I started coming back up. Maybe I was going to drop lower than I'd ever been. Who knows?

J likes to explain my unexplainable disease with two words: chaos theory.

It's a fitting description.

Food

As a diabetic, carbs are the enemy.

Not really. My lazy, no good pancreas is my enemy.

Unfortunately, that's saying part of me is my enemy....and I'm pretty sure that's not possible. Or at the very least, kind of dumb.

So. . . . . . . . . . .

Carbs are the enemy.

I used to be a serious carb addict. All my life, my best friend has been a certain snack cake queen (wow, say that three times fast!). Those ooey, gooey, chocolatey, sugary, three-bite sized treats. Pasta was sooo good too. And donuts! Oh, those sour cream donuts I used to get at the bookstore when I was at GSU. They were only .50 so of course I got two at a time. I walked around a LOT on that campus, so I needed the energy.

I loooooved diet soda too. Diet Cherry Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper were my favorite. Fresca was good when I wanted a kicky little change. But I'd drink regular Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi when we were out at restaurants. I wasn't too picky. Diet drinks are "free" in the diabetes world, so I felt like I wasn't depriving myself of what everyone else had when I could get a fizzy beverage with dinner too.

That all changed in January and February of this year. I started to get serious about what I was putting in my body.

I wish I could say I was becoming more aware of my temple and wanted to honor God by using it in a better fashion. . . .but that's really not true.

I started reading about what refined sugar and artificial sweeteners do to a human body.

Needless to say, I was disgusted.

I immediately quit drinking sodas of any kind. In fact, I think there are still some store brand diet drinks under the counter in my kitchen. I may as well toss them.

(Why not give them to someone, you ask? Why in the world would I do that?? There's no one I dislike that much that I would say, "Oh, here, I was cleaning out my kitchen and came across this poison that I don't put in my body anymore and I'd like for you to have it."

Nuh uh.)

So anyways. Its been water for me since February of this year, with some coffee, Zevia, and a couple glasses of unsweet iced tea here and there. Oh, and almond milk which is surprisingly delectable. The first sip was like, "Hm. . .this is different. Nutty." But now I chug the stuff. At 1 gram of carbs per CUP, it's basically a freebie, diabetes-wise. It's all about texture for me, and I think almond milk has a nice smooth texture that's close to regular milk.

I eliminated artificial sweeteners as much as possible. A couple popped up in unexpected places, but once I was aware of them, they were gone. I also severely limited my refined sugar consumption.

In the past couple of months, I've slid away from my vigilance and my hips are proving it. It started with my birthday and just went downhill from there.

Actually . . . now that I look at it from that angle. . . I think I've been off the wagon longer than I was on it.

Ew.

Dr. Bernstein talks about the law of small numbers. (Disclaimer: I haven't made it all the way through his book. I'm still working on digesting the first few chapters. It's a lot!) The more I use my pod and aim for that elusive 100 blood sugar, the more I can see he's right.

If you're hammering a nail for a picture frame, what sense does it make to stand across the room and run full tilt towards the nail while trying to aim with your hammer? No, you stand next to it and tap slowly, only a few inches from the nailhead. Right? Right.

Fewer carbs, less insulin, less room for error. So that's what I'm going to try and get back to. Along with adding more veggies to our diet.

I'm going to say this . . . .and I know people who know me will gasp in shock. . . . but I bought some red, yellow, orange and green peppers today to TRY. JUST TO TRY!!!

Gosh people, calm down.

I also picked up some fresh green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, olives, and avocados. I guess you can say we're going to go partial Paleo. I'm not quite ready to give up all the cheese we eat, but I'm fully ready to give up pasta and grains. I've been buying bread without HFCS, but it's still a lot of carbs for me to be eating in one sitting. The only other thing I can think of (when we don't have leftovers from dinner) to use for lunches is lettuce wraps. Worth a try.

I hope I can find enough variety for our meals to keep me interested for at least a couple weeks so I can truly give this a shot. I've proven to myself that I have the willpower. I came home a few weeks ago and thought, "Wow, an ice cold fizzy drink would taste pretty good right now." I didn't have any around, so it was easy to avoid the temptation then. But the next morning, driving to work, passing QT where the soda fountain called my name. . . ? Not quite as easy, but I still did it.

I'm really not even a fan of the Zevia anymore. It just doesn't taste good to me.

So here goes everything. We'll see what happens.

Well. . . maybe as soon as the cinnamon rolls from Ikea are gone. . .

From Pinterest, courtesy this gal