Summer Fun!

We went to the beach! Well, to a man-made beach at a man-made lake, actually, but still, it's the best we have out here! Last week the temperature was in the 90s, ALL WEEK LONG, and by Saturday we had had it up to you know where with the hot weather. So, we drove 20 minutes away to Alum Creek State Park and romped in the "surf". Ha! I tried to get Ben to throw me about in some sort of graceful manner in the water, like a synchronized swimmer. But, it turned out more like the Miss Piggy synchronized swimming bit in The Great Muppet Caper. Like, the part at the end of that bit. Where she falls in the fountain. Not. Pretty. :) It was blissfully cool, though and a very nice end to a sweltering week! (P.S. In that picture, it kind of looks like the dude behind us is naked, but I zoomed to make sure this post was family friendly, and I assure you, he has swim trunks on.)

It is MUCH cooler this week, and the humidity is even giving us a little break, so that has been a nice change.

We've been kind of busy, last week we hung out/helped out our friends who have just moved here with their kids. I went with them to the zoo in the middle of the week, and then we baby-sat for them on Saturday night. Their children were fabulously well-behaved, and we were introduced to the wonderful world of Barbie Princess movies and Blue Clues (the host on that show is a little creepy, btw.) The baby went to bed super easily, and the older girls were adorable. Fun, fun!

This weekend, we are going down to Tar Hallow State Park for an overnight camping adventure with some friends of ours. We're leaving Friday afternoon and coming back Saturday afternoon and hope to do some hiking, camp-firing, and swimming in between.

And now for the boring stuff:
7 day avg: 181
30 day avg: 177
% In range:45
% Low:7
% High:48
Estimated A1C: 7.14

Hardest Thing:
The hardest thing this week has been not over-treating lows and having a resulting high rebound. Ugh. Blerg. Eck.

Most Positive Thing:
I'm having trouble having positive diabetes thoughts today, so I will say that one of the most positive things about having diabetes has been some of the lasting friendships I've made. I have several friends I met at diabetes camp many years ago who I am still in contact with (one of whom is having a baby soon!). And then there's obviously the Nish (Nick & Trish) factor, who I know I'd be friends with even if I weren't diabetic, but I think diabetes had a lot to do with why I became friends with them. I first met/saw them testing at a ward activity once, and immediately plastered myself on them, never to let go. Any who, I'll hold on to those positive diabetes thoughts this week, as I try to keep positive about the big "D".

Toodles!

Title, shmitle!

I couldn't think of a title for this post.

Here are the latest numbers:
7 Day Avg: 172
30 Day Avg: 179
% in Range:50
% Low:10
% High:40
Estimated A1C:7.19

The Hardest Thing: HEAT! I always have a much harder time controlling my blood sugar when it's hot! And it has been SUPER hot this past week. A couple of things happen because of the heat. 1) I have no appetite, which isn't so great for a diabetic who takes insulin. If you take insulin, you must eat at some point or risk going low. Ugh. Also, not eating is not an option because my body will FREAK out and my liver will start dumping tons of glucose into my bloodstream to give my brain food which makes me have super high blood sugar. So eating is a must. And 2) heat makes my insulin work a LOT faster and makes it a little more potent. So, I go low more. Blerg! I can't win. But, I LOVE summer, so I'll deal with it.

The Best Thing: I think I've found an endo office I want to try out (did I already write about this?). They seem to have all the bells & whistles of an endo office that I'm looking for (like in-office instant A1C testing, e-mail communication,pump training, etc.) and they specialize in Type 1 adults, which is n ice, because most endos don't. Sweet. So, when I decide I'm over the trauma my last endo inflicted on me and become willing to spend the moolah to try a new endo, I will try out these gals. Hopefully they'll be good and not make me swear off doctors again.

Help Wanted: Gardener!

Clearly, I'm not cut out for this job. Seriously. What was I thinking?! I hate bees, or really any insect that takes flight (including butterflies). I hate spiders, anything that crawls, slithers, or jumps.

I tend to think of myself as a fairly tough cookie. But, today, as I was digging up the lettuce in our garden that has overgrown and was choking out our carrots (and, for the record, tasted bitter at every stage of its growth), I realized that my toughness only goes as far as the fence around the vegetable garden, and does not, in fact, extend into said garden. I uncovered a gigantic mess of bugs. Earwigs, sowbugs (pill bugs), spiders, and these two gigantic larvae/grub type looking things!!!!! SICK!

I squealed a little bit, was very brave and captured the grub things in a jar so Ben could see them later, and ran back in the house.

Next year, we'll plant a tomato plant. Maybe. Or, we'll just stick to hostas. You can just plant those, and don't have to get anywhere NEAR them or the bugs that call them home.

I will take a picture of the grubs, and post it, so you can see. SICK!

Nothing Fancy

Nothing exciting today. Just a BS update.

Last 7 day avg::191
Last 30 day avg:172
% In range:54%
% Low:6%
& High40%
Estimated A1C: 7.0
Actual A1C: 6.7!!!!!!!!

The Hardest Thing: The hardest thing this past week has been managing stress & the 'betes. I had to give a talk in church, and speaking in public TOTALLY stresses me out. For DAYS! So, I had a lot of highs before during and after the talk. Not fun. But I'm slowly getting things back in control. It's been a much better week for blood sugars, than it was last weekend!


The Best Thing: I tested my actual A1C using a Bayer Home A1C Testing Kit, and it was 6.7! This was even lower than the last time! Woot! It's just nice to know that what is going on in my blood stream in between tests isn't quite as awful as I thought it was!

Well, it's SUPER warm here, so I think we're going to try to hit up the "beach" this week! Hooray for summer!

Garden of Eatin'

Our garden is EXPLODING! We are growing 3 different kinds of lettuce on the far left, a tomato plant (back left), bush beans and pole beans (along the back), carrots (front middle), peppers (front middle/right-ish), snap peas (back right) and potatoes (front right). They have all grown so much these past few weeks! I think it's because we've had an incredibly ridiculous amount of rain. We have had maybe 3 days in this whole month where it hasn't rained, which is kind of a bummer for summer fun, but GREAT for easy gardening!

So far, we've only eaten some of the lettuce, but I have a feeling we'll have peas and our first batch of carrots soon. Ahhh, summer.

Booyah!

Boo to the Yah!

North Carolina!

We went to North Carolina a couple of weeks ago for our brother-in-law's college graduation! Congratulations, D! I took pictures of random things I thought were cool along the way.

This is a picture of Pilot Mountain, a mountain on the outskirts of the Piedmont Triad (Winston-Salem, High Point, Greensboro). Isn't it cool?

This is the skyline of the city of Winston-Salem (ahhh, King Tobacco), and the big ole' Winston Tower, wherein I'm pretty sure evil and conspiring men sit and think about ways to ensnare our women & children into a life of nicotine addiction.

And even more evidence of King Tobacco in the triad, the road sign directing you to King Tobaccoville. King Tobaccoville!

Proof supporting my hypothesis that there is a Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in almost every bigger city:

Because no trip south would be complete without a Waffle House . . .

The infamous Big Ed's Chicken Pit, a restaurant in High Point I have yet to have the pleasure of experiencing, but which I intend on trying!

And those were the photographic highlights of out trip! :)