Better late than never, huh? Here goes.
Three Names I go by:
Been gone a while, haven't I? I don't know where the time went. Almost 2 whole months!! And my last post - yikes! I really should have, at least, followed that with something a little more uplifting. But that didn't happen. That was a sad time for us & I don't think I realized until recently just how much it took out of me.
I have been back now and then & read some blogs - just to kind of keep me in the loop. I didn't comment on very many, if any at all, during that time. But I did say a few prayers for many of you along the way.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas & New Year. Ours was very nice. And we have a new addition to our family to announce. No, not a grandchild (although that would be great - hint, hint.) Instead, we have a brand new Penny!!!!!
This is our new Penny. (Penelope HoneyPooh Pineapple - officially)
After our Daisy was gone, my Sophie got really depressed. She stopped eating & she moped around ALOT! I took her to the vet and they said that dogs sometimes get depressed when a companion is gone. I hadn't thought about that. I was so focused on how this affected us that I forgot about poor Sophie. Daisy had always been there for her. They didn't really play together or anything. But they were always in the house together, they ate in the same area at the same time. They would "stand pretty" together when it was doggie treat time.
So we had to do something. But I had said that I would never get another cocker spaniel. Daisy was our one. Then I thought - another Shih Tzu! That's what Sophie needed. I got on the Internet and started searching. There were lots of Shih Tzu puppies available within driving distance. But none of them seemed right. It seemed like I would never find the puppy I wanted. But God's timing is always right. Finally, I found Penny. I knew that's what I wanted to name her from the start. It just fit.
But when we brought her home, Sophie hated her! She didn't want anything to do with her. She barked and growled at her. It was awful. But you know what? Penny doesn't care. She loves Sophie! She follows her around like - haha - a little puppy. And even though she didn't like Penny, she needed some energy in order to hate her. So she started eating again & moving around more. So things are working out.
Now Penny is a part of our family. Sophie still acts like she doesn't like her. But if we pretend we're not paying attention, we sometimes see Sophie playing with Penny. Makes me smile.
I still have moments where I miss Daisy. And no one could replace her. Then I look down and see this inquisitive, 5.3 pound, bouncing, bundle of energy at my feet. And God reminds me how blessed I am.
Maybe I'll write about some diabetes stuff next time. Or maybe I'll stick to writing about dogs. They're a lot more fun than diabetes, right?
Caution - Sad story ahead.
Diabetes and such have taken a backseat for a few weeks so I have nothing to share on that front today. You see, it's been an emotional few weeks in our house. We had to say good-bye to our sweet Daisy (cocker spaniel) and now we're down to five dogs. This whole ordeal has been tougher than I thought it would be.
We got Daisy for my daughter's 13th birthday. She was the only blond cocker spaniel in the litter and my daughter fell in love with her immediately. From that moment on, she was our Daisy. Her full name was Princess Daisy Sophia DooDah. I'm not sure where we got the DooDah, but it just seemed to fit. Daisy was such a sweetheart and only got snippy with one person in her whole life. (And it was someone we didn't like very much either - Daisy was a good judge of character.)
She was almost twelve years old and had lived a good life. But over the last few months, she had lost her energy, her ability to get around easily, and a lot of weight. It was so sad to see this happen to her. We had not had this happen before. Our other dogs had met their fates on the busy street in front of our house. Theirs was over quickly. But Daisy deteriorated before our very eyes.
She tried; she really tried to be that frisky puppy that always greeted us at the door. Even up to the day she died, she still managed to get up and walk a few feet to meet my daughter & husband as they came in the house - her little tail wagging as furiously as it could. Then she had to lay down. Her body just couldn't handle the excitement anymore.
But I won't dwell on the sad stuff. I want to remember the good times.
When we first got Daisy, she rode home in the car on my lap & got blond fur all over my dark blue coat. It was the first of many messes we would encounter with Daisy. But that's okay. Other fun facts about Daisy are:
I won't get another cocker spaniel. There could never be another Daisy. While I still have other dogs and I love them all, nothing could replace our Daisy. God blessed us with her presence for almost 12 years.
Pets hold a special place in our hearts, don't they? They so quickly become part of our daily lives & once we're hooked - we're hooked. While it's so hard to let go, we will go on - remembering the good times & how blessed we are to have those precious memories.
PRINCESS DAISY SOPHIA DOODAH
December 17, 1996 - October 24, 2008
That's it. I am lazy. I've let myself get out of the loop and I've become a lazy person.
I've received several emails over the last few weeks from friends out there in the Diabetes OC wondering about me. Many of you have contacted me to make sure I was okay since it had been so long since I had posted anything. I am blessed to have friends like you. But please, rest assured, that I am okay. I'm just lazy.
I've been working from home a lot lately. I'm lucky in that I have this option available to me. My company has supplied me with a laptop that I can take home and work from there whenever I want. This is a good thing for many reasons - saving gas, commute time, etc. But unfortunately, I also find that it has contributed to my laziness. You see, when I go into the office, I have to walk a ways from my parking garage to my office building; sometimes my co-workers and me go out for lunch so we walk several blocks to get something to eat; I usually run errands on my way home and do a lot of walking then. So I get some exercise when I go to the office.
But when I work at home, the only exercise I get is walking 10 feet to the laundry room to put in a load of laundry. Other than that, I sit on my rear and work at my computer all day. I also seem to be getting lax with taking all my vitamins when I'm at home. I do make sure I take my prescription meds, but I don't bother with the vitamins. More laziness.
Also, since I'm not out and about very much, I don't have much to say. I don't get much social interaction throughout the day to give me ideas on things to write about. My dogs sleep all day and don't have much to say to help me with ideas either. I guess that's a good thing, though. If my dogs start talking to me, I'm in big trouble. LOL!
The only thing that doesn't seem to be affected by me working at home is my diabetes. It's going pretty well. I get so engrossed in my work that I haven't been snacking and I almost forget to eat lunch. So my diabetes is good and I'm not gaining weight. These are two things that concerned me when I was considering working from home. So far - so good.
But I need to figure out a way to work from home and still get some social interaction, some exercise, some ideas, etc. I just didn't realize how much my working at the office stimulated my brain on so many levels. Most of my friends are at the office & my kids are all grown up so I don't have little kids to chase around, I have lazy dogs, etc. So I've become lazy, too.
Thanks to all of you who have inquired to make sure I was okay. I am OK - just lazy.
I'm clicking away with my new MultiClix lancet device. I've been using it for a while. And I have officially jumped on the MultiClix bandwagon.
Well, I'll admit that when I first got it, I was a little disappointed. I think I had all these mental images of how wonderful it was going to be. And I think I had set my immediate expectations a little too high.
Before I got the MultiClix, my fingers had been through the ringer. They were badly damaged by a less than stellar lancet device and old generic lancets. They were in pretty sad shape. So I think that's why I wasn't too impressed with the MultiClix when I first got it. My fingers had lots of callouses & scars.
Since the callouses on my fingers were so thick & nasty, I was having a difficult time getting any blood using the MultiClix. I even had it on the highest setting of 5.5. But I was still not getting very much blood. Luckily, my meter doesn't require very much blood so I was still able to test. It was just a little challenging. So I was getting somewhat frustrated.
But I wanted to give it a chance since so many people had highly recommended it. I didn't want to jump off the bandwagon before I even jumped on. After all, this thing wasn't cheap. So I've been using it for a while and you know what? My fingers are actually healing & are not so calloused. It's like a miracle. I hardly feel it & now I usually get enough blood on the first try. So things are getting better.
I think I'm going to like this device. It's so gentle to my fingers. I do still have to use it on the highest setting, but it's working & I don't have the callouses to get through. I am pleased. The dots on my fingers are now less noticeable and hopefully will continue to get better. Thanks to all of you who recommended this device to me. It's totally been worth it.
Yes, it was Carb Day. And I don't mean Carburation Day at the Indy 500 either. Actually, it was a day at our state fair and did I eat a lot of carbs! But they were oh so good!
We went to the State Fair & were once again in the Farmer's Day parade - which was fun. But after the parade, it was time for the real fun and not a moment too soon. My blood sugar had dropped to 60. Perfect timing for sharing an Elephant Ear. It was sooooo good! But I ate a lot of it & decided I should probably go ahead and bolus just a little bit. Not a good idea.
We were doing A LOT of walking (which I am NOT used to) and my blood sugar dropped again. This time it was 51. Also, just in time. We were walking past a chocolate vendor that had all kinds of chocolate goodies. I opted for a white-chocolate covered pretzel - a big one. I didn't bolus this time. More walking was ahead of me.
Then it was time for lunch. My husband wanted a ribeye sandwich. It sounded good to me, too. But I had my heart set on a hand-dipped footlong corndog - not the kind you get in the freezer case at the grocery store either. So we walked around until we found some that looked really good. He got his ribeye sandwich and I got my footlong corndog. Not a very healthy choice, but oh so yummy!
I didn't even check my blood sugar this time. Nor did I bolus. It was hot and we still had a lot of sight-seeing and walking to do. We visited some of our family who had cows in the Cattle barn, went to see the world's largest boar and a new litter of baby piggies. We checked out the antique tractors, all the Hot Tub vendors & went to young McDonald's farm.
Then it was time to snack some more. A pineapple whip ice cream cone! But I bolused this time - just to be safe. By this time, I was stuffed. We looked around a little more & then decided it was time to leave. We had seen everything we came to see. But I hadn't had my corn-on-the-cob like I always have. We walked past that tent and I just couldn't do it. I had to pass it up. I was soooo full of carbs.
We got back to the truck and I checked my blood sugar - 167. Not too bad after eating all those carbs all day. And my blood sugar wasn't off the charts. I'm sure all the walking helped. But it was nice to get some food that was different than the usual. I guess, though, it's a good thing that the State Fair only comes around once a year. I don't think I could handle it more often.
Anyone else enjoy their local fair? What is you favorite fair food?
