Sunday, January 22, 2012

I'm Feeling Old and This is the Proof....

Hello faithful followers....


I hope this finds you all well....Me? Not so much...... Here's how I know-


I just bought a Medical Alert bracelet.


Yes, you read that correctly. If you haven't followed me on Facebook or in any recent blog postings (and if this is you, why wouldn't you want to???) I was diagnosed with Diabetes this past Thanksgiving. Honestly, I think I knew for awhile that it was a possibility, but I didn't really let myself believe that it could really happen.


You see, my parents are both diabetics. My paternal grandmother was a diabetic...all of them type 2 and all of them (seemingly to me) older when they received their diagnosis. My grandmother died when I was 13 from complications of a stroke. As far as I know, she never took insulin. I laugh because I can remember her telling me that she'd drink the sweet tea from the TOP of the container since it had "less sugar." I'm thinking she probably ate what she wanted, when she wanted.


My parents both take insulin and have for years. My mother is quite the cook and can make anything sweet taste good and be sugar free. I just never thought I'd be diabetic and would have to eat sugar free.


Earlier in the fall, I noticed that I had to urinate a lot more than normal. On a side note, I take a diuretic pill for other things (high blood pressure and Meniere's disease) so in the back of my mind, I attributed it to that. So I did a little experiment and stopped taking it. My frequent urination urges decreased a little, but not enough to have the answer as to why I was having to go so often. Also, I've been a light drinker...meaning that I don't require much to drink during the day. During this period, I found that I could drink close to two liters of water in one sitting without a second thought. Then, I noticed the weight loss. It seemed that in a matter of a few weeks, I dropped close to 25 pounds.


So I did what anyone would do in that situation: I made a doctor's appointment to find out what was going on. Of course they wanted me to fast to get some blood work, so I did. I wasn't happy about that at all. They took my blood glucose sugar reading and it turned out to be 285. If you don't know what that means, well, a normal blood reading after fasting is under 100. Given my other symptoms and that blood sugar reading, my doctor told me that what I feared was true: I was indeed a diabetic.


My doctor wanted to start me off on insulin, but I asked him to wait until our appointment to go over the blood tests later that week. At that appointment, my doctor told me that my A1C number was a 13. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's a 3 month reading of your average blood glucose levels that is converted to a number scale. Most normal people's A1C is a 6 or under. Someone at a 7 or 8 is considered borderline diabetic. A high score for a diabetic is a 12. Did I mention that I WAS A 13???? That would explain why I started taking insulin that day.


So what does that mean? It means that I have had a drastic life change in regards to diet and exercise. I eat very few carbs....I know...sad, right? No bread, no rice, no pasta, no potatoes, no corn, no peas, no fruit, no sugar......so sad. I exercise more than I did before, and hope to make it a regular part of my daily life.


The only good news in all of this, is that I've maintained my weight loss. Also, for awhile, my vision was very blurry, but now that I'm getting the blood sugar levels under control, my eyesight has returned to normal. I'm hoping that I'll be able to become more healthy and lose a few more pounds.


The bad part of weight loss is that your wrinkles become more prominent. But that comes with old age, right? All I need now is to contract gout or arthritis....and now that I have a medical alert bracelet, I can add those ailments. I left plenty of room, just in case.


Until next time, friends.....


Toodles!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Niftiness of a Caboodle

I am moving forward through this post assuming you know what Caboodles are. It's only the most amazing makeup container EVER. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, take a second and do a Google search and learn some stuff. Then come back and finish reading this.


I have to stop for a second and give my usual apologies and excuses for not blogging. For starters, I live in the STICKS. There is no high speed Internet here of any kind. I know because I've checked. You can not get Internet through cable or phone lines. For the longest time we had dial-up and it was TORTURE. We got rid of our land lines a year ago and went completely cellular. Our connection to the Internet at that point was through "tethering" using a cell phone. It was minimally faster. Then, back in August of 2011, David and I upgraded our old flip phones for smart phones. We like these so much better, but we're still relegated to tethering. And only with David's phone. So this means that if David isn't home or is using his phone, I can't get online to blog. Not convenient. So, that's part of the issue. I am, as always, incredibly busy. But I think everyone is busy, so that's not a valid excuse. You just don't meet people who talk about how much free time they have. At least I never have. And in case you've thought, "What about Hugh's Net? Can't you get Internet through them?" My parents (who live about 1/2 mile down my road) have Hugh's Net and if anything, their Internet service is slower and worse than ours.


But I digress....back to our topic..........


I love blogging and don't do it nearly as much as I'd like. At one point, I was debating about whether I should keep a written list of interesting blog topics. I never did get around to it. Over the last month or two, one topic has been reoccurring and since I had a dream about blogging on this topic last night, I'm taking it as an omen that I should proceed.



Many, many years ago, my mom bought me a green Caboodles makeup case for Christmas. At least I think it was for Christmas. My parents let me start wearing makeup around 8th or 9th grade so it was probably about that time. What is amazing to me is that after all these years (close to maybe 30 years or so) I still use the same case. It hasn't broken or let me down in any way. There aren't many items that you use on a daily basis that you can say that about. Over the years, my makeup collection has increased and I've tried to use my Caboodles case as best I can. I've filled it and the extra stuff I've acquired to put on my face ended up in assorted baskets and stuff. Not as organized as I should be and given the time of day that I put my makeup on, I need all the help I can get.


Somewhere about 10 years ago, I started using glitter as an accessory to my makeup on Fridays. If you are my Facebook friend, you'll know from my Friday Get Ups album that I go all out on Fridays. I consider it part of my public service. As I've gotten older (and of course more wrinkly), I've decided to use glitter on a more regular basis. I'm talking glitter eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blush, lip gloss....the whole 9 yards. I think that somewhere I thought that the glitter would reflect light OFF of my wrinkles. Maybe it does, maybe not....but it makes me happy so I'm going with it.


My glitter collection has grown and a few weeks ago, I found another Caboodles case that was purple! I transferred all of my everyday makeup to the new purple case and put all my glitter in the green one. I'm very happy with both. I'm also more organized in the mornings now, so that's a plus too.


Just so you know.........I took a long time trying to load pictures of my two Caboodle cases. My connection is so slow it wouldn't load. Oh well.....maybe next time!


Until next time.....toodles!