I'm Changing My Tune!

Well, it appears that "changing my tune" is a popular theme for the DOC lately.  There was much discussion about the change in tune that JDRF will be making.  In case you missed it, read this article about new president and CEO, Jeffrey Brewer, and JDRF's new direction.

Wendy also changed her tunes on Candy Hearts after a survey revealed that the majority of people prefer to not have music playing in the background while reading a blog post.  She got me thinking about my own playlist on my blog.  You see, I love to hear the music, but I realized that I also "mute" it when I am reading.  So...the first tune I'll be changing is my playlist.  It will still remain on my blog, and you can find it by scrolling down to the bottom of the home page, however, it will no longer play "automatically" when you open my site.  You will have to manually press the play button to hear the music.

But my music playlist is not the only Tune I'm Changing! 

I have also been playing around with the fonts on my blog.  I'm not completely happy, so I'll be fine tuning that as well.

But the real story is about my upcoming blog posts.  You see, I believe that a change is in order.  Boy do I have a treat planned for you!  And I'm not talking about this week's sugar bolus.  (You will have to visit The Princess and the Pump for that!)

We are approaching Ally's 2 year D Anniversary this week.  I have been doing a lot of reflecting.  I realized that it has been almost a year since I started this blog.  My tune has changed since last year and we are approaching our D-Day in a whole new way!

I am a D Mama and I write about my experiences as a "fill in pancreas" for my 7 year old daughter.  Once in a while I mention Ally's thoughts, her actions, in hopes of getting a glimpse inside of her life as a person with type 1 diabetes.  But reality is that I can never completely understand what she goes through, what she feels.  So...I have contacted a couple of very special people with type 1 diabetes.  I have invited them to be guest bloggers for me this week.  I asked them to change my perspective....to help me get a peek inside my sweet daughter's head.  And I promise, they did not let me down!!!  I can't wait to share their insights with all of you!

Stay tuned.....

Good Friday to you!

I was just reading Amy's post on Three Thirty Three about Good Fridays.  She took the lead from the Diapeepees blog and it looks fun to me!  You can read more about Good Fridays here.

I think it is a fantastic idea to focus on happy happenings of the week. I often wonder if people will stop reading my blog if all I write about is the "unfriendliness" of diabetes. So, here we go....my top three, non-diabetic, happy occurrences of this week....

Happy Good Friday to you!

1.   Having my girls home on "snow days" is awesome!  I really do miss them when they are gone for 8 1/2 hours each day.  We had extra time to play board games, read stories together and just do "girly stuff" (you know, paint fingernails, put on make-up, that kind of stuff!)

2.  Finding new, healthy recipes that my family loves is rewarding!  I recently picked up a couple of great cookbooks with fun recipes for kids with diabetes (oh, you'll have to wait to hear about those!!!  And oh no! Did I break the rules???  This is supposed to be non-diabetes "happies".  Well, it's healthy eating, not diabetes eating!!).  Ally and I had fun planning and preparing several meals together this week.  The kids didn't even know that they were eating healthy!!

3.  Watching my girls giggle while watching a play at the Town Hall Theatre is priceless!  My girls love going to the local children's theatre.  We had the opportunity to go to a Berenstain Bear's play this week with 5 of their cousins.  What a fun night!

So those are some of our happy moments this week.  Won't you share yours next week?

Ice Ice Baby!

Today was another "snow day" and the kids were home from school.  With all of the power outages around us, it looks like tomorrow may be the same.  It is actually due to the quarter inch of ice that we have covering everything! 

The weathermen have been warning us for days that this storm was coming.  Although the report changed from day to day, it would appear that we were right in the line to receive something!  (Possibly rain, possibly a wintery mix of freezing rain and ice, possibly snow!)  How bad it would be...well, just like always, we'd wait and see.  My kids did their normal "snow dance" and bedtime routine of wearing pjs inside out and backwards, putting a spoon under their pillow, flushing an ice cube down the toilet, and sleeping at the wrong end of their beds.  Check out what I found when I went in to check Ally's blood sugar at midnight.

Love it!

I went to the grocery Monday - because this is the day that I usually go to the grocery.  Thank you to the hype that the weathermen had given this storm...so did EVERYONE else in my neighborhood and beyond!  Everyone was there to stock up before the storm. 

And, I let the pressure of the frenzy get to me, I did stock up on a few extra items just in case! 

I remember once, about 12 years ago, when we were stuck for 2 weeks because of ice!  I was teaching first grade at the time and we literally did not have school one day for 2 whole weeks - it took that long for the ice to melt.  I remember my roommate and I going stir crazy in our 2 bedroom apartment.  Luckily, that was a once in a lifetime ( I hope! ) experience.

Remembering that ice storm and this grocery frenzy got me thinking.  How are my levels of D supplies (insulin, test strips, lancets, alcohol swabs, lidocaine cream, ketone strips, juice, glucose tablets)?  What if the UPS man can't get here to deliver the pump supplies that we are running low on (reservoirs, infusion sets, sensors).  So many things that I could run out of.  Would I be able to get to the pharmacy if we were "stranded" here for a couple of days?   If our power goes out (it's already flickering and I'm nervous) what do I need to make sure to think of?  Insulin has to stay cold...well that shouldn't be a problem since its freezing outside and I know where to find plenty of ICE!  What else?

Well, I really hope that I don't find out the answer to those questions...but it makes a girl think!

Stay safe..and warm!