I'm trying to come up with something to write about...

Hello, everybody (I cannot type that without thinking about the Simpsons. You can all chorus back with "Hi, Dr. Nick, okay?)!

So my life has been fairly uneventful since the Trifecta of WTF this weekend. I did go to the doctor on Tuesday and that was fun and exciting with all the new and exciting things that I get to do.

I did not lose one fricking pound. Not one. I gave up beef, people (well, for the most part). I am eating rice cakes! How can I not lose a pound? On the plus side, I didn't gain a pound either so that is good. However, I am choosing to blame the scale (the lovely nurse whose name I can not remember says she hates that scale as well so that's okay).

I must get an eye exam (yes, I know. I will. I promise. I'm thinking possibly red Buddy Holly glasses. What do you think? Any suggestions?).

I was offered the chance to get the blood sugar under control by using injectable insulin. Did I want to start that? If you think my response was a big HELL NO, you would be correct. I hate needles. The gluco stuff seems to be working and there is progress. My blood sugar level is slowly inching its way down (last night was 156. Can we all say wahoo! Yes, we can!) and the medicine isn't making me sick, which is good because I seem to be allergic to just about any other medicine there is.

I need to get a tetnaus shot (I just know that isn't spelled right. Tetenaus? Tetnes? What does spell check say? Oh. Tetanaus. I guess that makes sense).

I also need to get a flu shot. I've gone many years without a flu shot, thank you very much. But apparently it is very important that I get one. I looked at Deb and said to her "What is this fascination you have with jabbing me with needles?" She laughed.

But other than that, all is good. I am eating much better, I feel better, I took the advice on the finger poking and yesterday had a gusher (too much blood for me to even consider popping the finger into my mouth) so learned my lesson about doing the tricks on the fingers that work well. Won't do that again.

I had my monthly review today and you'll all be pleased to know that I am totally awesome. Even my ACW (after call work (I'm only listing this here because it will make Beth freak)) is good at an average of 55 seconds to 1:15 per call. My Quality is good, I do lots of projects, everyone loves me. We are going through some changes here because we recently received some major companies as clients so that could mean potential excellent jobs. Keeping my eyes open. Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing but I'm not really sure I can handle a 4th tax season.

Hope you're all well. I'll be making the rounds later, behind on my blog reading. Sorry! Much love!

Whine, whine, whine

An open letter to my body:

Dear body,

I have the strips to monitor my glucose level now. This is good. What is not good is that you decide to release a very miserly amount of blood, not enough to fill up the strip and then I have to use a new one. Fortunately I have 100 strips and unlimited refills until next year. However, this is no excuse. I don't like needles. It takes awhile to get up the nerve to jab myself. Please start cooperating.

And what is up with the gigantic cold sore? Or should I say 3 cold sores? All clustered in the same area? All red and puffy and glaringly obvious? Let's quote Mitch Hedberg here. "When I get a cold sore, I put Carmex on it, because Carmex is supposed to alleviate cold sores. I don't know if it does help, but it will make them more shiny and noticeable. It's like cold-sore-highlighter. Maybe they could come up with an arrow that heals cold sores."

I would also like to be more alert during the day. I'm not a big fan of coffee so if you could cooperate here, that would be great.

I do appreciate your decision to actually like the following healthy items - rice cakes, low-carb tortilla wraps (so good I may never eat bread again), ground turkey, fat free chocolate milk and etc. Now if we could work up a way to burn calories while blogging, that would be great. Get on that for me, okay?

Thanks for your time,

Dana

Monitorings are good - 208, 205, 177, 198 this morning. Sticking to the diet (wait! Don't use that word. You know how the body reacts to that word. It's a lifestyle change! Change! Not diet! Look body, here's something shiny!) for the most part. A slip or two but nothing major. Things are good. Well, except for this cold sore. And I have to do laundry tonight. Laundry sucks.

How are you all?

Wearing with pride

Beth came home yesterday after her trip with her mom (11 states in 8 days. Amazing) and we went to Perkins for a short time. She told me lots of stories and showed me some pictures. Really looking forward to seeing the rest of them. We also met up with Liz and James at Ol' Mexico last night.

Anyway, they were both thinking of me when they were at the Clinton Presidential Library and her mom, Laurie, bought me a polo shirt. It is a deep purple with the gold presidential seal and the number 42 over it. Other than being the meaning of life, 42 also refers to Bill Clinton being the 42nd president. I'm wearing it today and remembering when he was president and how much better everything was. I miss him. I wish he was still president. I remember when America was actually liked by other countries. He was just such a cool guy, still is, of course, but it was nice to be proud of your president. Unlike now.

Tomorrow I might wear my t-shirt Beth got me from Beale Street and then I will think about BBQ and how I would really like to have some brisket right now. Unless, of course, I've been arrested for saying something negative about George W. I saw a pretty cool bumper sticker today. It was a picture of a cell phone and underneath it, it said "One Nation Under Surveillance." I couldn't catch what the cell phone had in the text area but still, I was pretty psyched by it. It is almost as good as the other cell phone bumper sticker I saw about two or three weeks ago which said "Shh! Bush is listening! Use big words."

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into politics.

No glucose level monitorings. My doctor forgot to fax the prescription for the test strips and they are incredibly expensive so I'd really like my insurance to pay for them. They should be available either tonight or tomorrow. You'll be happy to know that I'm still eating carefully and avoiding a lot of heavy starches. If I do eat a starch, I balance with protein. Lots of vegetables, not much butter (and I looooove butter so this is big for me), barely any bread (also big fan of bread so another sacrifice but hey, it is worth it).

I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach right now but I think it might be because I ate a Hershey's Kiss that was candy corn flavored. Note to self: You don't like candy corn. Why on Earth would you think "Hey! This is candy corn flavored. I should try it." No, you shouldn't. Candy corn is bad.

Plus, didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Really weird dream where Beth and Keem and I were adopted by this guy and his evil (possibly twin) brother was trying to take over and get us kicked out of the mansion and then I got frost-bite because our gay brother ditched me to hook up with this really hot guy who called me a fag hag and that was irritating (I do not like that word. And why can't you just say "Hey, this is my straight female friend." It's just insulting to both parties) but hey, hot, so more power to him. And, really, it was probably my fault for running through the snow barefoot. So Keem was lecturing me while she was rubbing snow on my foot. I think you're supposed to do that for frost-bite. Because otherwise, that just strikes me as weird and a little mean. And there was a Santa Claus with a Boston accent that was a doll and our younger brother would talk to the doll and tell us what he said and would do the accent. I kind of remember the rest but it is even weirder than this so I'm going to leave it alone before you all have me locked up.

I am now going to let you know how bad I am with Geography. Last night we were counting the amount of states we've been to (James has been to 49. Bastard. Everyone but Hawaii) and I was having some difficulty.

DM: Have we established where Michigan is yet?
Beth (after long silent pause): We know where Michigan is, Dana.
DM: Well, I know it's that way (pointed to my right) but do you go to Michigan to get to Chicago?
Beth: No.
DM: Okay, haven't been there. Is there anything between the Dakotas and Wyoming?
Beth: Oh, good Lord.

Yeah. I'm not proud. Amused but not proud. Hope you all had a good weekend. I also told James he was the most irritating man I ever had the displeasure to meet. He laughed. I'm not sure why he irritated me. It might have had something to do with movies.

Johnny, sorry I missed your call. I was in and out all weekend.

Just one of the reasons why I love working here

Hello - DM's blog has been hijacked. Actually, this is Beth helping out. I am removing a portion of DM's post (below is her writing) because it might cost a job or something. I am helping DM. Have fun! Be good! Encourage her to be good about watching her food. It dances.

CHICKEN!

****

Thursday, September 13th
Dinner - 2 brats (no buns), carrots and onions lightly sauteed in butter (freaking awesome). I did not have the extra brat or any ice cream, although I really, really wanted some. I resisted the urge and it didn't kill me.
Glucose monitoring - 177 (which is awesome except I forgot to do the reading at 2 hours after eating and instead checked at 10 PM so it doesn't really count)

Friday, September 14th
Breakfast - 2 brats (no buns), cheese slices on table water crackers, two yogurts. For some reason I was extra hungry this morning so I just ate my lunch and breakfast together. I might regret this at lunch time but I guess we'll see.
No monitoring - ran out of test strips.

Nothing really new, unless you count the hail storm

Keem and I went to my doctor's office this morning for a class on dealing with Diabetes. It was interesting. Most of the stuff we talked about I already knew from Weight Watchers and it just convinced Keem and I that we either need to go back or start following the program on our own. The woman running the class, Janet, said that Weight Watchers is the only program she will recommend because it is based on the American Diabetes something something.

Got caught in a hail storm on the way back. Don't think there was any damage to the car. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Anyway, hope you're all well. Have a great day.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Dinner - Lettuce, dressing, smattering of cheese and bacon, chicken, sausage
Snack - No snack! Yay! I was full!
Glucose levels - Evening 223 (serious drop! Yay)

Thursday, September 13, 2007
Breakfast - Yogurt (strawberry, blueberry)
Lunch 2 pieces of pizza (very small, just tiny squares), Weight Watchers Swedish meatballs (which were horrible, the meatballs were weird tasting and the noodles were mushy. Won't be buying that again. Lean Cusine's is so much better).
Glucose levels - Morning 236. WTF? Oh, wait, I took this after I already ate some of my yogurt. That makes sense.