October 29, 2012

Raymond!

we went to raymond this weekend for possibly the shortest visit ever. we left edmonton friday night at 7 and arrived in raymond at 1230. saturday i spent the day with my mom and carter hung out with his dad, sisters, and mom. sunday we went to the temple dedication, ate lunch with my mom, then said bye to everyone. we left raymond at 3 sunday afternoon and got home at 830 sunday night. *le sigh*. we're tired, but we had a good time visiting our families.

and, of course, since i've turned into the craft master.. what would be a weekend without a new craft?


super saturday with lisa! it's so cute. and so fun.

and today i hung out with meghan, blew a breaker in our little living room, and now i'm more than ready for a nap. ughhh.

but no time for that -- the 'what's for dinner' board says it's time for breakfast for dinner! yum!

October 26, 2012

type 1 diabetes

four and a half years ago my life changed forever. and not in a good way. i had been sick-ish for a couple of weeks, but i remember perfectly the day it all went downhill. i was at church with my family, and i started getting really light headed and dizzy. i thought it was just from cramps. i went out to the van to relax, and i suddenly couldn't focus or barely move. luckily, my mom came out at that exact moment and decided that i was having symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). she tested my blood sugar with justin's meter (he'd been diabetic for a couple of years) and sure enough, i was low. so she gave me a juice box and a granola bar, and home we went. but when we got home i was too weak to even walk downstairs to change, so i laid on the couch. i'm pretty sure i slept for like 6 hours. but then i started getting nauseous and i had to pee every 5 minutes, so mom took me up to the hospital. they checked my blood sugar again, and this time it read 'HI'. they gave me an injection of insulin, and the pain and nausea immediately subsided. it was then that i was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

since then i've been learning to take care of myself. there was a long time - basically all of high school - when i thought if i just took my insulin i didn't need to bother testing my blood sugar or getting my a1c drawn. even when i went to a diabetic camp as a counselor and was supposed to be a good example, i still didn't take care of me. it even got so bad that i ended up in the hospital. twice. even when i moved to edmonton, i still didn't care. it really hit me in march, just after we got married, when i had a pregnancy scare. i learned that high blood sugar can seriously affect the baby's development - like brain, spine, and organs. let's just say, i started testing a lot more regularly. like 7-8 times a day. and boy, did i learn a lot about myself. like i needed a lot more insulin than i was giving myself.

and it's quite frustrating that now - when i care so much about my blood sugars and my body - my insulin isn't doing what i need it to. it's even come to a point where i am going to be applying for the university of alberta islet transplant program, which basically would 'fix' my pancreas and mean i would be insulin independent, and even if i did have to go back on insulin it would be a lot less than i'm taking now.

my life - along with SO many other diabetic's - would be changed drastically by an insulin pump <preferably this one>. unfortunately, they range from about $7000-$10,000 a piece, not to mention the supplies that are needed range from about $300-$400 a month. some insurance plans cover it, but not 100%.

the pc government made a promise as part of their campaign that all type 1 diabetics would be able to receive a pump under the alberta health plan. but now they've come out and said that there are going to be monetary requirements that have to be met, and all other sources have to be exhausted. not to mention, the pumps may only be available to those under 18. yes, type 1 diabetes is a juvenile diabetes, but it does not go away. just because i'm over 18 and no longer considered a 'juvenile' doesn't mean i don't have juvenile diabetes anymore.

we are trying to get the attention of everyone in the alberta government. the pc party, the wildrose party.. everyone. if this is something that interests you, if you know someone with type 1 diabetes, or even if you just dislike the pc government.. join this facebook group. help us get it out there.

October 23, 2012

m's birthday!

**note - i meant to post this like.. last thursday. oops.**

tomorrow (since i'm blogging this at 2:53 wednesday morning) is meghan's birthday! you may remember the name from this or this post. i have been thinking long and hard about what to get her, but what do you get the girl who has everything? i came across the idea of ''string art'' on pinterest (of course, there's a common theme here!), and was DYING to try it. but i wanted to start small. so off to michael's i went to find cork and nails. i ended up using thumbtacks, and i already had the embroidery string. i found the font i liked, and printed out an 'm' (for meghan, obviously). i cut out the 'm', taped it onto the cork board, outlined it with tacks, took off the paper, and began stringing! i didn't want to do it all in one color, so i chose 3 random colors and just sort of went crazy! i wasn't sure if i liked it at first, but i decided that i really really do. i hope she does too!


it honestly probably took me an hour, but that's because i was also eating and watching ellen. now that i've done one successfully, i need to do another one! a bigger one! i am the craft queen!

October 17, 2012

3 AM Crafting Session.

alright. so i can't sleep. so i'm bored. like really bored. and i had this crafty thought come over me whilst i was tossing and turning next to my log of a husband.

we received this print from a couple in our stake for our wedding. and i love it, i really do. but we received so many prints for our wedding that this was one of the many that was tucked away, hidden.


i don't mean any offense to the couple that gave it to us. don't worry, i kept the print itself, tucked behind my new craft.


i've been dying to make a board like this since like i very first got pinterest. and when is a better time to do it than 3 am!?

basically i just took out the original print and inserted a piece of scrapbook paper that i had written 'i love u because..'. i decided to freehand the saying because a) my cricut is loud, and b) i thought it would be more personal that way? idk. i really like how it turned out, actually.

then i wrote on it with a dry-erase marker (which i happen to have a ton of because of a little whiteboard calendar i have hanging on our fridge) and i hung it up in the kitchen, where i know we'll both see it every day. i also want to put nails or hooks on the bottom for keys. but i can't find our hammer.


now i'm even more bored than i was 2 hours ago because the rest of my crafty ideas have to wait until normal hours when other people are awake. shame.

Things.

> sleep is a thing of the past. i am having some serious issues falling/staying asleep. terrible.
> i'm being such a good housewife when i'm not working. gone are the days of 4 standard meals, here are the days of experimenting. this week we had stew and biscuits, chili and potatoes, ranch chicken and rice, and tomorrow is chicken fettuccine alfredo. mmm.
> i've started being so crafty! i love pinterest and michael's. watch for posts coming soon - i have to wait to post them because most of my crafts are gifts!
> i have stopped drinking diet coke. cold turkey. i know, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.. but it's the equivalent of lisa and heather stopping dr. pepper. i've had some terrible headaches lately, but it's been 4 days since my last diet coke! yay me!
> i'm literally hungry all the time.
> i am not ready for winter.
> we bought a car! 2006 dodge charger. she is a beauty. carter gets to drive her to work, but sometimes i say 'hey, take the lumina and let me drive the beaut!' and he goes 'fine'. such a good husband.
> speaking of, he likes sleeping on 2/3rds of our bed. stinker.
> k bye.

We got family pictures done Thanksgiving weekend - this is a sneak peek.

Sometimes we try on Hallow's Eve costumes at Walmart.

Our baby!

October 6, 2012

Sad.

I know Christmas is a long way away, but my family is going away. As in, Carter and I aren't. And the reality of having Christmas without my family for the first time ever just hit me. Yeah, Carter's family will still be around.. But my family won't be. No Grinch on Christmas eve. No homemade Christmas gifts, no stockings, no board games until 2AM, no waking up at 4AM. No dinner. No afternoon naps in the living room. Growing up is hard.

Happy Thanksgiving.