Yippee Skippeeeeee

I've...

Lost...

(my mind... and...)
3 kilos!


Ahhhhh it feels good to finally be on the right track :)

It's amazing what a little concentration on the D control can do. Everything else falls into place. Well, almost everything else... but I feel healthier already. Here's to the next 3kg!

Holy *bleeep*

If I ever needed proof that blood sugars rocket with stress, I've certainly had it tonight!
I've just seen the very worst BG result ever in my days as a diagnosed diabetic. I vaguely recall hitting numbers like this many years back when I was just starting out, but ever since then? Not a chance.
*gasp*

Y'see... someone from my past wandered back into my life today. It wasn't at all horrible, we just chatted but I knew I was a bit stressed. And yeh I even thought it would knock my blood sugars up a bit but I took a lot of extra insulin to compensate. I didn't test, I was doing one of those stupid stupid things... too scared to see the result, so I planned to test later just in case I overdid the correction. (Why oh why do I do that? It's never sensible in hindsight!)

That was a really really bad idea. I wish I was testing every hour tonight so I could have stayed on top of this.

You should have seen the look on my face when I read the meter. And then when I retested and it said almost exactly the same thing. I couldn't believe it. I could have slapped my meter when it suggested I should test for ketones. I've *never* seen that before.

Ok.. shocking... thankfully it will all be over in a couple of hours and I remember tonight as a lesson in testing regularly!

I think it's ok for me to avoid looking at my 7, 14 and 30 day averages for a while though... boy are they going to be out of whack!

I think I'm slightly in shock after that reading. Woah!

Filling in the gaps

Wow, it's been a long time.
I still think of things to write, yet somehow I never quite get around to writing them. Instead I'm actually spending much less time on the computer and getting out in the fresh air. I have a veggie garden I'm very proud of. Probably losing some of the flat-ness in my butt too ;)

I'm kicking off with a meme here, not entirely exciting huh! But at least I'm saying *something*... and hopefully it wont take me so long to say something else!

The one word meme:

1. Where is your cell phone? Porch
2. Your significant other? None
3. Your Hair? Uneven
4. Your Skin? Tanning
5. Your mother? Wonderful
6. Your favourite thing? Garden
7. Your dream last night? *shrug*
8. Your favourite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? Sustainable
10. The room you're in? Bedroom
11. Your ex? Friend
12. Your fear? Ignorance
13.Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14.Where were you last night? Sister's
15.What you're not? Stupid
16.Muffins? Chocolate
17.One of your wish list items? CGMS
18.Where you grew up? Wellington
19.The last thing you did? DVD
20.What are you wearing? Jeans
21.Your TV? Off
22.Your pets? Lots
23. Your computer? Good
24. Your life? Sweeeeeet
25. Your mood? Happy
26. Missing someone? No
27. Your car? Reliable
28. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
29. Favourite Store? Market
30. Your summer? Beach!
31. Like someone? No
32. Your favourite color? lots
33. When is the last time you laughed? Afternoon
34. Last time you cried? History
35. Who will respond to this? *shrug*
36. Who's Answers are you anxious to see? Seen!

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

:)

The kitties, 7 months on

For those of you who have been following the kittens life story from birth til now... it's time for an update.

They had heaps of fun today in the garden. It's the first time they've ever seen the soaker hose going, and they thought it was great fun. I thought cats weren't meant to like water!

Check out Pumpkin's ambush and Taco & Noodle's kisses to the camera.

The spring buzz

The sun is out... the air is warm... the garden is going mad!
It's the last day of winter. Bring on Spring!

Spring bulbs... gorgeous :)


Baby broccoli.
Baby Spaghetti Squash. I didn't even know we could get them in New Zealand until I found the seeds.
Veggie garden number one is growing strong. Number two is still mostly bare dirt.

The spring buzz gets me big time. I love the long days, the sunshine on my skin, and the beautiful plants in the garden.

Not to mention losing my extra few kilos of winter weight, getting out for walks on the beach, and being surrounded by other people with the spring buzz! This is a fannnnntastic time of year :)

It's all gone wonky!

It's late evening, I'm checking my blood sugar knowing it's a little high... only to find it's a LOT high, 15.2mmol (270). I just don't see numbers like this any more *gasp*.

It's the middle of the night. I'm feeling ok but a little hungry and desperate for the loo. I always test if I wake up during the night - just as well: 1.4mmol (25)! Yikes. I just don't see numbers that low.. ever! Argh!

It's morning. I'm stuffed, that low really broke my sleep and took away all my energy for today. I suspect I'll be a little high, probably overdid the munchies to correct that low. Testing... Argh! not THAT high, surely! *scream*

It's mid afternoon. Knowing I'm still just a little high I decide to mow lawns to work some of it off. I'm feeling a little odd. Better pop inside and test the blood sugar while I have a little break. Holy crap, not THAT low... 1.8... ok, that's my day totally pooped. This roller coaster stuff really takes it out of me *sigh*

My numbers are normally pretty good. I aim to stay between 4 and 7 most of the day - naturally it fluctuates (I mean, duh, this is diabetes...) but I do quite well. I only manage diabetes so well because I test lots and because I am motivated to work with the results. It's the only way for me to feel I have control enough to live a normal life. It works - I've never once conked out, never had any real diabetes related trouble of any kind.

But now.. ouch. Today's lows were scary. The scariest part being that I was still acting and feeling pretty normal. But I was so worn out from it that I slept most of the afternoon and had to cancel my plans.

What's happened? ME, that's what. I've been testing less, I've been eating more crap, I've been guessing my doses and my numbers. In a nutshell: avoiding diabetes.

I do believe I've been taught an important lesson here! Back to testing lots, that's what works for me. I never intended to slip out of it, it just faded slowly, but trust me there'll be nothing slow about getting my control back!

*kicks own butt*

So, how DO you confuse an idiot?

I apologise in advance for any confusion!!
But I just *had* to post it!

You DORK!!

Just the other day I was talking about taking insulin for granted.
Even then, while I was raving about the wonders of my life-juice and nattering about how we shouldn't take it for granted... I was being a total dork and taking it for granted.

Last week I got a new script. I took my time with it, but finally took it to the chemist on Monday, and told him I'd come back to pick it up on Wednesday. I always have to give him a day or two warning because he never has my stuff in stock (that's another story!).

So Tuesday night rolls around and I feel like supper. I reach for my insulin... 0 units left. Not even one, not even half - zero units left.

How's that for cutting it fine? No supper for me (I'd just BAKED for gawd's sake). NO breakfast this morning until I'd gone all sleepy-eyed down to the chemist either. I don't think I've ever shown my face at the shops in such a mess before - my hair was grotty, my clothes were thrown together, my eyes were barely open... but I stood there with my hand out begging for my Novorapid and then slunk out pretty quick to go home and have a piece of toast.

I do count myself lucky that I had just the right amount for dinner last night and that I managed the night without needing a correction. But man oh man am I kicking myself for not getting my prescription earlier! I *always* have spares in the fridge. I *always* get my prescription well before I need it - now it seems Insulin and I have reached that point in our relationship where we take each other for granted. Doh.

I shall now return to my old ways of keeping one step ahead and treating my insulin as the liquid gold that it is!

Mental note: take your own advice, dork. DUH.

Revenge of the Killer Carbs... they're out to get you!

I think it's pretty well known by now that the more carbs we eat the more we want to eat. There is an addictive quality to those evil (nice!) horrible (yummy!) carbs (bastards!). I'd always thought this was an insulin reaction (in everyone, not just diabetics) but apparently there's more to it.

Dr Zane Andrews of Monash University (Australia) says "The more carbs and sugars you eat, the more your appetite-control cells are damaged, and potentially you consume more"

Don't ask me why he says Carbs and sugars when sugars are carbs...

But the article is well worth a read. Check it out here.
Your food is watching you! (image from evil mad scientist with instructions for making your own edible googly eyes - coool!)

Getting all gooey

Diabetes has always come with a little emotion. From "Omg, me? Diabetes? Really?" to "Yeh whatever, get over it, life goes on"... then "eek I'm low" and "eeeeek I'm high" and "I just don't want to think about diabetes today!" etc.

But other than those typical emotional moments, I'm pretty flat really. New insulins? Whatever. Another possible cure reported? Yeh, whatever - spare me the tease.

One thing that keeps popping up for me though, is the mention of Banting & Best themselves. Oh boy do I feel a little emotion when I think about these two fabulous men who discovered my life juice!

Diabetes is just something I have - life goes on. I deal with it just fine. I have my moments, of course! But mostly it's no biggie. But what if Insulin was never discovered? I'd be gone by now. I'd have left my son behind, and my friends & family. I'd have spent a short time a bit ill, then very ill, then in a coma, then dead.

Dismal, yes but it just reminds me that I take my insulin for granted. I think it's good that I manage to shelve diabetes and carry on with my life - but I can't forget to appreciate my life, and remember the brilliance that is Insulin.

I'm SO lucky to be experiencing my life, seeing the things I see and doing the things I do. Sometimes just making a cup of tea is a miracle!

This is the web site that brought on my feelings tonight: The Banting Homestead Some day, when I have the time and the cash, I'm going to visit this place and kiss the ground!

The world is just awesome

Isn't the world a fantastic place?

Love the sing-a-long feel to that ad :) Maybe everyone in America has already seen this, but it's new to me.

New Zealand's ads are not so nice & fluffy... more like this:



Anyway, it IS an awesome world we live in, and I'm learning to appreciate it and look after it more. I've always been pretty careful with things like recycling but I'm moving on a step from here. I've given up using shampoo & conditioner (replaced with a Baking soda wash and an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse). I'm recycling more than ever before. I'm composting big time, and I've started a vegetable garden so we can have some real fresh spray-free home grown veggies (YUM).

I'm learning about solar cooking (why did I never think of that before?) and about edible wild plants. I'm saving electricity and learning new ways to do things manually. And loving every moment!

So that's it folks - it seems I've gone hippy on you!

Bugger?!

Every-bloomin'-time!

Yes folks.. a1c time is coming.

And up until last week I had *fannnnntastic* control. I was soooo heading for that a1c in the 5s. Proud as punch, was I, knowing I had a great hold on things.

But we know diabetes much better than that, don't we...

Last week things went belly up. Lows here & there, highs there & here. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll still have a decent result, but I know that the last few weeks have the strongest influence on the a1c so I wont hold my breath.

Now, really, does it matter? *I* know that I have had great control. *I* Know that this is just a small hormonal hiccup thanks to early menopause, and a little to do with being inactive (it's winter after all - and the weather really stinks), and a little to do with the fact that I've had my favourite chocolates to much on... and they're hard to stop munching *blush*. I know that it'll all settle down in a few days. I know I can get control again and make it all better.

But I'll still be a little bummed if 2 and a half months of great control is wiped out with a week & a bit of crappy control.

I can't even do the usual trick of delaying the blood test (shhh!) - I have to have it done next week without fail because the results are needed for an appointment with my Endo and yet another appointment with my doctor. But that's ok...

It's all OK, it's just a pain in the butt!

I've been trying to get a result in the 5.5 - 5.9 range for what seems like forever (in reality it's about a year or a bit longer). This was gunna be it!

Crossed fingers, maybe I can get back into this smooth sailing thing again, perhaps it's just time for a little adjustment. Either way, I know it's no biggie - I'm already doing quite well in the low 6s, but boy would it be great to see a 5. *sigh*

And wouldn't it be nice if just for once my numbers didn't go mad for the few weeks just before an a1c test? It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!

UPDATE: The results are in - and even with the crappy numbers over the last few weeks I managed a 6.3. Sweet - though I still have a plan to reach the high 5s without hassle - without extra lows. In other words, tight-as control! I have the knowledge, I have the ability, but I also have carb cravings lol. (Pass the chocolate will ya?)

Little meows and BIG meows =^..^=

Little meows:
Our little (HAH!) cat family has grown. The kitties' dad now lives with us full time.
He's been visiting for a very long time, and I always wondered if he had a home - he seemed to be outside all day every and didn't look like he was fed regularly.

A couple of days ago the poor lad was hurt, it looked like he had a broken leg so we took him to the vet. Thankfully it wasn't broken, but he needs some rest and some pills for a few days. The vet thinks he's homeless and needs to stay with us, so that was all the arm twisting I needed!


Even if it does mean we now have 7 cats. *gasp*

The mad cat lady strikes again.

Here are 5 of them soaking up some sun on my bed (you even get to hear my kiwi accent on this one, I forgot to mute it!):


Big meows:
You may need to have tissues in reach when you watch this...


*sniffle* is that fantastic or what?!
.

A visit to my future

I've been thinking lately about how I've changed. Where I was 5 or ten years ago, where I am now... and where I'll be in another 5 or 10 years.

Tonight I stumbled upon an old post of mine on Tudiabetes, where I said:

Ever heard of an older diabetic with complications saying they wished they'd look after themselves better? I've seen that a lot. I'd like to be the one that says 'I'm glad I looked after myself' while I'm sitting out on my rocking chair, enjoying the sun on my feet, on my 99th birthday.

I never once heard a diabetic say "I wish I let it all go and didn't worry about complications, carbs are better than keeping my feet/kidneys/eyes"

I'd love to think that I will be sitting out in the sun on my 99th birthday, having done a good job of looking after myself, and surviving with all my body intact. I'm still in one piece so far. Only another 66 years to go! I'll report back then!

What I'm wondering now is, what kind of life will there be in 66 years?
In 10 years, even?
What's happening with the price of gas, and the gas putting up the price of food and other things?
How is this going to affect our futures?
Will we, as diabetics, be damaged by all this?

In these circles (diabetes blogs & forums that I follow) I haven't seen any mention of what's happening to the world at the moment, and what's going to happen. The whole Peak Oil thing. Are you familiar with the idea? Putting it simply in my own words: We all need to re-learn those old-fashioned ideas - become more self sufficient, grow our own vegetables, learn a survival craft and live off goods from our own communities, etc, because the lack of available oil and the sheer price of what we have left is going to make even the basics hard to afford, if we can get them at all.

It's depressing, really, but it seems to be a plain fact. Unless someone comes up with a really great replacement for oil - one that not only can run vehicles of all shapes & sizes but can also be used in all the other ways oil & petroleum are used, then we're a fair bit stuffed.

Who'd have known we rely on oil for so much in our every day lives? I didn't. What I don't know is how this will effect me as a diabetic. Will my insulin double in price since it has to travel from another country? Same with my test strips / meter / glucagon / pens & needles? I might be safe from this regardless, seeing as the government pay for my medical supplies (ah, how I love New Zealand). But I may not be.

What if the world went truly belly-up? What if I couldn't get insulin at all? What if only the strong will survive? I'd be pooped. However, this is extreme thinking and I don't believe this is going to happen - it's just a paranoid thought. I'd be one of the fastest to fall off the planet if it ever came down to survival of the fittest.

So I'm putting this out there and wondering what you all think. Are you aware of 'Peak Oil'? Where do you see yourself in 5 years - and have you considered the lack of gas, the price of gas, the availability of all things that aren't made locally, and the outrageous prices we might see in anything that needs to travel to get to you? Do you worry about the availability of your insulin and other things necessary to our survival?

I don't plan to spend the rest of my days worrying, (hell no - live for today!) but I do think it's worthwhile considering options and perhaps stocking up a little, just in case. If I'm prepared, then I have little to fret over.

Then again, knowing me (Procrastination is my middle name) I wont do much about this until it's a little too late.
*sigh*

nom nom nom

If I ever get a pump
...which is really very unlikely...
I shall name it:
COOKIE MONSTER.
And it will certainly help me eat lots of cookies :D

Seems to me one of the hardest things about getting a pump is finding a good name! So I'm half way there.
Now to come up with many thousands of dollars to actually buy the thing.
Hmmmph.

Bath time for kitties

The kittens are nearly 6 months old and still totally adorable.
And still here!
I don't have the heart to give any of them away. So we're still a 6 cat family. Which I really do love, right up until it's time to buy the cat food - oh how my wallet complains. Next week Noodle (mum cat) and the three kittens are going to the vets for (da da da DAAA) the snip. *cringe*

Here are the twins showing some sibling love :)

I don't think I'd have ever done that for MY sister.

I can BREATHE!

I've dabbled in going gluten-free for quite some time. I know I needed to get serious about it - gluten has obviously slowed me down for years. Nothing major though, otherwise I would have done this properly a long time ago!

It's been obvious to me for a while now that eating foods that contain gluten leaves me with stuffed up sinuses. However, I knew I could get away with a little bit, so my diet was adjusted slightly - limited gluten. Just one piece of bread a day, and maybe some baking or whatever if I felt like it. I also didn't care about the little things - like malt added to stuff, or anything that had wheat as an afterthought.

4 days now I've gone without any obvious gluten at all. NO bread, no baking, nothing that contains anything other than a trace of the stuff. I've even bought a gluten-free bread to have with my new gluten-free marmite and baked a great (if I do say so myself) GF chocolate cake (my own recipe, and I'm very proud *puffs out chest*) and finally found GF cereal that I can crunch up for making my chocolate afghan biscuits. *drool*I so should have done this a long time ago! I can breathe! My sinuses are so clear it's fantastic. And I feel more awake, which is a real surprise seeing as I've had hardly any sleep all week (and urr, it's 3:29am, guess I'm not getting much sleep tonight either). I'm full of energy, I can think better, I just feel... light. Light and free.

Who'd have thunk it?

Well, me, actually, coz I've known I've needed this for years. Funny how we come up with all sorts of excuses to avoid things ("I can start this properly next week", "Gluten doesn't *really* effect me, it's all in my head", "I'm ok so long as I limit it", "this gluten-free thing is just a silly fad", etc)

Sure it's a bummer being gluten intolerant - but as usual, that's nothing compared to going on for years never knowing what the problem is.

And all this in only 4 gluten-free days. Fan-bloomin-tastic :)

Purrrrrfect

I get up in the morning to find the dishes done.
He's quiet, he's polite, and he's offering to keep an eye on kiddo if I want to go out.
He's planning to move the rest of the firewood this weekend.
He takes off his shoes at the door and walks quietly
He's glad that we recycle and compost and he wants to help in the garden.
No wacky-backy or alcohol!

I've found the perfect boarder.

...it only took three months! *gasp*

Three months of advertising, living on almost nothing, freaking out at any wastage lest we can't afford the basics next week, stressing over the idea that we'd have to move if no one turned up, meeting some odd potential boarders (and hating turning them down, scared I wouldn't find anyone better).

WOOHOOO! It's over!

I haven't even told him about my diabetes yet - which I really must do, in case something goes stupidly wrong. To date I've never had a big bad hypo, or any hypo that I couldn't control, but I hate to assume it'll always be that way. So, I'll have to spit it out eventually. (If he hasn't already noticed the insulin & glucagon in the fridge!)

I've never had a problem telling people about diabetes (well, those who need to know and are likely to understand). But it was only a few weeks ago that I had another guy lined up to be our boarder. This one was only *slightly* weird compared to the others (and even that was only because he wore a bright and holey hand-knitted jumper and looked like he hadn't combed his hair in a week or so)... so I said yes. He was keen - very keen, he loved the room! I was so relieved that it would all be over.

We sat and discussed dates and all the fiddly little details. We even discussed my diabetes and my son's ADHD... which I had no problem with, but apparently he did. I sent him a txt the next day. He replied that he was no longer interested.

Totally his problem if he has an issue with diabetes or ADHD. I know that. But it didn't stop me feeling a little wound up for a few days.

Speaking of purrrrrfect... check out how much my babies have grown up. 4 months old now! They've grown so much

Taco (look at those eyes!)

Rigatoni (begging for a belly rub)

Pumpkin (loves to steal my hot water bottle as soon as I put it down)

A packet of barbecue flavoured rice crackers.

Me. A cold night. A game of Spira-Defense. A packet of barbecue flavoured rice crackers.
A high carb snack - yes, but since I'm only having a few, and it adds up to less than 20g carb, I'm not bothered.
Lets see... 21g carb per serving, 4 servings in a pack, so if I have less than a quarter of a pack I'm having less than 21g carb, right?
In which case, the 3u I take to cover it should be just a little bit too much, especially as I started at 5.3 (nice!), right?

Sooooo why is it that I end up over 10mmol a couple of hours after eating these, having already taken a 1u correction dose?

You'd think - well ok, I'd think - that eating so little carb, and overdoing the insulin (even if it is only by about half a unit) and starting at a great place, AND jabbing early to give the insulin a head start - that's about perfect, isn't it? Should end up on the low side and then - yay - I could enjoy 1 or 2 squares of yummy caramello chocolate before bed.

But alas... no choccy for me tonight. (Everybody say awww)

So, does the packet lie?
Are rice cracker carbs different to other carbs (!)
Did I get my dose wrong, run out of insulin in the pen, inject an air bubble, or maybe miss my leg and inject my chair?!?! Nope.

When something so simple goes wrong once I can understand it - there's always a reason, even if I don't know what it is - no worries, move along, fuhgeddaboutit. But when the same thing happens with the same snack two nights in a row there's something weird going on. I have learnt already that rice crackers are pretty evil to my blood sugars, but surely they can't be THAT evil? The only other explanation I can think of is that the packet is lying about how much carb is involved. But then, it admits to being 84% carb and you really can't get much higher than that without eating pure sugar. Even if it was a little bit higher, the difference would be small when it came to my dosing, especially when eating such a small amount.

So this leaves me confused... here I am trying to be a good girl and have *ahem* healthier snacks (as in gluten free, not low carb, obviously) and it just aint working. I think I'll go back to nuts & apples... and chocolate ;)

Does anyone else have trouble with rice crackers? Or is there some other food that gets you confuzzled?

Reason number 157 NOT to do the housework:

The washing basket is needed for more important things.

A good find, and a favour to ask you...

Have you ever had an insulin pen that STINKS? Stale horrible old insulin - phhoooeey! Well my favourite pen, my Novopen demi, somehow got itself into that state even though it's my newest pen - probably only about a year old - and even though I cleaned it fairly regularly. (Twice a year is regular! It might not be often enough, but it sure is regular! Yes I know I said I've only owned it a year. So I've cleaned it twice. Tell me you've cleaned yours more, go on, lie to me!).

*ahem*

A few months ago I started pulling it apart to clean it every few days, I just couldn't get rid of that pong.

I soaked it in dishwashing liquid, I sat it in boiling hot water, I left it all sitting open for days with no cartridge in it in the hope that fresh air would help. I stared at it and willed it to de-stink itself, but nothing worked.

So I started using my old novopen (not a demi) and ohh it was nice to be away from that horrid stink, but I very much missed my half units and soon learnt that for me good control NEEDS half units. And so I had to go back to stinky-pen. Ugh.

It almost smelled fresh again by the time I put a new insulin cartridge in - but right when I thought things were going good I made the move of putting my nose right up to the lid. PHHHHOOARR! *holds nose*. This will never do!

So I got desperate. When I couldn't find the email for my diabetes ed nurse (to beg for a new pen), I thought I may as well try everything I can think of. I was about to try soaking it in bleach, spraying it with kitchen cleaner, burying it in the sand or whatever other plan I could invent.

But then I found The Answer: Simple-as. Soak it in hot water with a little white vinegar added.

Simple things are always the best :) For a few hours I had a pen with a whiff of vinegar, but that faded fast. And now I have a fresh smelling, fresh looking, fresh feeling (Ohh, there's a commercial in that lol) Demi pen. YAY. I can go back to being embarrassed of injecting holes in myself in front of people, instead of being embarrassed of the smell that wafts out when I pull that little beasty out of my portable pancreas.

Such a small thing, but such a big sigh of relief!


-----------------------------------------------------------------

And on another note... I have a favour to ask of the diabetes O.C:

*flutters eyelashes*

Now, Darrrrlinks, could you possibly, please, perhaps, have a look at all the links you have going on the sides of your blogs or blog roll pages, and kill off some dead ones / update the changed ones?

Coz M here is a chronic blog surfer and loves to just go through from one blog to the next using another person's links. But as time passes it's getting harder & harder to do because there are so many messages that say "this blog page doesn't exist" and so many sites that haven't had a fresh post since February 1912... I keep hitting dead ends!

*pulls the puppy dog eyed begging look*

Please, favourite bloggers in the whole wide world, could you do that for me?

*big cheesy grin* I'll luv ya forever-n-ever, really :D

-----------------------------------------------------------------

On yet another note - I owe you all a post on the failure that was my Diabetes Education dinner in honour of Type 1 diabetes day. I *tried* to raise my voice. But... Ears have to be turned on for that to work with any success. *sigh*. More on that some other day when I'm over the emotional side of it! (It seems that 2 weeks is NOT enough time to lose the disgust you have for your own family's lack of interest & knowledge).

Hurumph.
.

Pretty piccies

We've had some of the most gorgeous sunsets in the last few weeks - here's some photos I took tonight (and if you click you end up on my Picasa page with plenty more local sunset pics - it seems I'm now a sunset-o-holic!)

..

Take a moment... watch this... what a woman.

Had to share this video with you... it's amazing. This woman, a brain scientist (Neuroanatomist) analyses her own stroke as it happens. She tells us what it's like, and what she learnt from it. She tells a fabulous story.

Regardless of your interest in brains / strokes / videos or whatever, I'd recommend taking a few minutes out of your day for this one. She's fantastic.


...
Well, they give you all the tools to embed the video but it doesn't seem to work... if it doesn't load for you, watch direct on the site at Ted.com
There's some sort of scripting issue that doesn't like firefox. I wouldn't normally tell you this, but (*choke*) it's worth running up IE for this.

A day in the life of a Type 1 Diabetic - my raised voice

Most readers here know just what it's like to be a type 1 diabetic. But in the spirit of Raise Your Voice day, I'm doing 'A day in the life of M'

3am: wake up desperate for the toilet, which always means I'm low. Test when I return: 2.4mmol (43 mg/dl). Icky. Eat a couple of Mentos in bed and fall asleep feeling totally trashed. Mentos are great for lows - they work really fast so I always use them if I'm under 3mmol or any time I need a fast BG rise.

8am: wake up again, with fuzzy teeth. I gave up brushing my teeth after overnight munchies a long time ago, but it always feels gross in the morning! No wonder diabetics are known to have tooth problems :p BG steady at 8mmol now - a little high but that's what late night lolly munching does to ya. Take a little insulin, fall back to sleep coz I'm still trashed from last night's low.

9.30: wake up yet again! This time, properly. Test: 4.7mmol (perfect!). Take Lantus (my background insulin, it has nothing to do with what I eat or drink). Take my morning Novorapid (fast acting insulin to cover meals), enough to cover the fact that my blood sugar rises in the morning until I eat, and enough to cover breakfast too. Stumble around the house feeling half asleep for a while.

10am: Having finished my first cup of tea for the day I start making eggs on toast. For some reason I always make something like eggs on days when I eat late... maybe it makes me feel better to call it brunch so I don't feel like such a lazy-arse :p Breakfast goes down the hatch and I'm still struggling to wake up. Late night plus overnight low = rough morning.

noon: Test: 4.1, just a little too low to be going on with, so I have a little bite of chocolate cake to avoid the impending low. Yummmmm.

1pm: Don't really feel like lunch, so just keeping an eye on my blood sugar to make sure I'm not dropping any lower. Turns out I get another bite of cake (just a teeny bit!) which takes the place of lunch, which is just fine with me today :)

3pm: Going out so need to test before driving. 5.7 - perfect. Will be wandering around the supermarket later which always drops me a little, so I make a mental note to sneak a lolly from my handbag while I'm there.

5.30: Arrive home with groceries, test: 3.9 guess who forgot to munch that lolly in the shop. I pinch the tiniest bit of icing from that cake (3.9 isn't even really low, just don't want to get lower) and start making tea. Wont do my usual trick of injecting 10 or more minutes early tonight, because I'll end up low before I even get to start eating.

6.10: Tucker time. Being around food when I have a lowish blood sugar tends to make me make bad decisions, so we have a huge pile of chips with our fried chicken (Baked, actually, with a yummy gluten free coating that I made up on the spot) and salad. Hmmm. A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do ;) Chips are normally one of the foods I have to limit, they're too high in carb so they're hard to match with insulin. But tonight, I don't care :)

8.30: Test at 7.2, surprised it's not higher. Have to watch closely though because of the faster action of chips. (Oven baked chips, so they don't even have the high fat content to slow down digestion & BG spikes). Mental note to test again in 30 - 60 minutes to make sure I don't drop too far or end up going UP again!

9.15 test at 6mmol. Can't complain. Shouldn't drop much lower than that, if at all. Take my 2nd injection of Lantus. It's a 24 hour insulin but I take it twice a day with a 12 hour gap, it just provides a smoother background level and never leaves me without. Also means that I still have half a dose to help out if I forget my Lantus or take it a bit late.

10pm: Watching a movie, and a gal needs her movie munchies. I get through a small bowl of munchos (tomato flavoured chip sort of things). More high carb munching, tut tut. Matched with insulin of course but it's so hard to find the correct dose for stuff like that.

Midnight... Consider going to bed but I'm addicted to reading other diabetics blogs, so I'll just stay up a few more minutes... lol Test: 12.2mmol. Dammit. Chippies are never good. Take another couple of units but not too much as there's still some active insulin from the last injection.

1am: test & BED

So now you know just how disorganised my day can be lol. This was an easy day too... no exercise to speak of which would always lower my blood sugar. And apart from the evening munchies I had really good numbers - If only it could be like that every day! However it was also a high carb day, and I wasn't paying as much attention to my meals as I would normally do.

Diabetes is a full time job. However it really only takes a few minutes of my day to inject & test. It's what's goes on behind the scenes that makes it a full time job... In my mind I'm doing an almost constant blood sugar check. Any time the idea of food comes up I need to mentally weigh it and figure out how many carbs are in there as well as reading packets and sorting it out as properly as I can. I've lost some spontaneity in my life because I have to test before I go out, test while I'm out, and test before I leave. I may have to put off going out if I'm low or high. I may have to eat salad while everyone else is having a pig out. Or I may need sweets when no one else is eating.

The thing that worries me the most is other people's opinions about diabetes. (stupid eh - why should I care? but I do...), I suspect that most of the time it's not them at all, but my own idea of what they're thinking. Often I get paranoid that people think I brought my diabetes on myself. I think sometimes they see me eating sugary foods and think I'm such a bad diabetic. They might see that I'm a bit overweight and wonder if I can cure myself by losing some weight.

I am my own manual pancreas, and it's a bitch - so if you see me eating sweets, I'm just doing my job as a pancreas, trying to balance that blood sugar. Same again if you see me taking an extra injection or avoiding all the foods that you're trying to offer me. It's not easy being an important organ and personally I'd prefer it if my pancreas woke up and took its job back. Mr Pancreas did it so much better than I ever could!

I proudly stand behind T1 diabetes awareness, and Raise Your Voice - we type 1s need to spread the word a little, so we can hopefully find some understanding the world. The message I most want out there: Type 1 is an auto-immune disease. Years ago, something triggered an attack on my insulin producing cells, and now I just don't produce insulin. My diet did not cause it. It's not curable with weight loss or pills or anything else. I did not bring it on myself.

I wish the truth was out there for type 2s too - but today is type 1 day, and my main aim is to separate the types and help educate a few people.

[note... it's actually the day after T1 awareness day here in NZ, but because it's still the 14th in the U.S I can get away with this... right? Dammit I have to stop using this excuse lol)

I can talk about it in forums, I can natter away with strangers, I've even educated my great-aunt. But the tricky part is still to come - dinner with my family, all arranged as a Type 1 awareness dinner. I have to educate the people closest to me about my diabetes. Eeeeek!

M needs... for T1D's to RAISE YOUR VOICE!

It's meme pinching time!

To do this one, type your name and then 'needs' (e.g, I typed: M needs) into google, and share some results with us (it's meant to be 10 but I avoided a few boring ones).

M needs a doctor
Pfft. M is her own doctor. M has no faith in doctors any more. M would actually appreciate it if she never had to see doctors again. Although if he was just my kinda guy... and single... well that might be another story!

M needs surgery
I don't fink sew!

M needs adaptor 0.8m
So I fit better in this world. Ah if only it was so easy.

M needs good home
M has a great home, and she's scared of losing it. What M really needs is a boarder right now, or for it to rain money so she can live happily ever after in her perfect little house with her son & cats...

M needs to gooooo
brb! lol

M needs your help
Aye. she certainly needs help of some kind!

M needs a room
Nah I love my oversized bedroom :)

M needs sex lessons
No no no. Just more practice!


And... On another note... it's interesting to see what people are getting organised for April 14th, Raise Your Voice Day. It's fantastic for T1D to have a little limelight. I'm not sure what to do... but I have been tinkering with the idea of having a family meeting (well, a chat over dinner) and discussing stuff about diabetes. There's a lot I haven't told them, and a lot they haven't asked. So if I can educate just a few family members that's a good start. It might stop my little sister telling people that I can't eat sugar because I'm epileptic. (hah!! btw I CAN eat sugar and it's called diabetes, darlink, not epilepsy... but it is kinda funny).

I have a few copies of the T1 diabetic starter kit (especially the cheat sheet for families & friends) from the Australian site, realitycheck.org.au. I'll be carrying these and other printouts with me on Monday (and keeping some in the car those occasions when I need them in future) so hopefully I will help spread the word a little bit :)

Thanks Kerri for giving us a voice!

Need a kitten fix?

I haven't posted much about the kittens lately, apart from sharing the story of the hot sizzling kitty pee - so here's some piccies of the babies:

Sleeping strangely (after running around my room making a big mess, of course).
Waking up when Noodle comes in the room:
The race is on to meet Mum and grab a quick drink. Taco came in last and ends up climbing over Toni... lots of legs and tails everywhere!
It's kinda funny to see them still feeding off their Mum at that age - they're almost as big as she is!

Next week they'll be three months old. And I have to decide whether Pumpkin and Rigatoni go to a new home. I'm kinda addicted to my kitties! Can't really afford to feed them all, and I don't have the time or energy to clean up after them all, but it really is fabulous having 6 balls of fluff in the house (7 if you count the kitten's Dad who seems to have decided he lives here too!).

Still waiting for that winning lotto ticket ;) Then I'll keep all the cats and more... and maybe get them a nanny lol

On Wednesday, I was a mountain...

BG logging is so much more fun when you turn it into art ;)



And that, my dears, is a much more fun way of looking at blood sugars ;) I much prefer dinosaurs to mountains, don't you?

bowled for six

Lili tagged me for the 6 word meme. You've all seen the garb that goes with it so I wont bother with the rules, lets just get down to business!

I'm tossing up between these two:

Born. Smiled. Ate, Drank, Burped. Smiled.

To live, and love, that's life.

I had a good one going around in my head when I sat down to write this out. I only wish it was the first thing I wrote - because when I came to type it in my mind was blank. Gah!

I wont tag anyone, but anyone who wishes to do this can pretend I did tag them ;)

Thanks Lili - that was quite a challenge!

When kittens pee

You know my adorable little babies?
The little fluffballs of fun & love?
Those wonderful gentle little cute things?

Well today they aren't in my good books! One of them, no idea which one, decided not to use the kitty litter this morning. Instead, it looked like fun to go pee on my carpet next to the computer. Right where the power board sits. The power board where my computer, monitor and printer are plugged in. All this happens on the other side of the room to where little ol' me is snoozing away happily dreaming of Easter chocolate.

I was woken up with a loud buzzing noise. Heard a kitten scampering, saw my make-do keep-kittens-out-of-the wires fences knocked over . Then I heard a louder buzzing and saw flashes of orange light.

I Zooted out of bed (like that word? There is no suitable word in the English language for how fast I jumped up outta bed and across to the other side of the room, so I made one up). It fizzed and let out one giant POP as I reached over to flick the switches.

And then the smell. Ohhhh gawd the smell! I can still smell it now... horrible electrical burning fizzing smell mixed with the oh-so-lovely aroma of hot zapped kitty pee. Eu de gross.

So there I stood, with everything turned off and unplugged, and my lower jaw hanging in shock, ready to burst into tears if I found that my computer had suffered. Too scared to find out, I went outside and had a cup of tea on the back porch while I watched the little bundles of terror climb trees innocently, and I tried desperately to wake up properly.

Breathing deep to relieve my stress, trying to settle my heart and block out the images of zapped kitties, my house burning down, and other freaky nightmarish daydreams that went through my head, I made my way back to my room.

Fatalities: One power board, one cable, one patch of carpet that can be brought back to life with a little cleaning.

Survivors: Kittens. Everything that was plugged in to the power board. Me. Phew.

Can you hear my sigh of relief? It's almost as loud as the shriek I made when I saw the orange lightening coming up off my wet powerboard...

Well at least I'm awake now.

Wash my feathered mouth out with soap...

That is all.
:p

Match it for Pratchett

I know most people here are desperate to have a cure in sight for diabetes... but it's good to concentrate on something else for a while eh?

I bet a lot of us have been touched by Alzheimer's at some stage. Here's a great idea: a site hoping to match Terry Pratchett's £500,000 donation. Let's do it!

This post comes with a huge bunch of cyber flowers to PTerry himself for bringing so much attention to a deserving cause.

More info on Terry's Alzheimer's in this Sun article (did he say that Lara Croft’s buttocks have improved??)
The Alzheimer's Research Trust site
More info on how to donate

One person's rubbish is another's life saving treasure

What do you do with diabetes stuff that you don't use any more?

Gather up old insulins, spare meters, boxes of strips, insulin pens etc, and post them to Insulin for life who will then use them to help out people in the countries who don't have the support we have.

http://www.insulinforlife.org

Email them first, see if there's an agent in your country - saves a bit of bother with postage that way.

Even if your stuff is expensive, your doctor sucks, your D is fickle... we still have it pretty good really, don't we.

My cats nest

My cats find all sorts of cute places to snooze. Here's Noodle and Pumpkin in a pile of weeds outside that looks like a giant nest. I get the feeling they should be tweeting.
Noodle says tweet!


Nesting inside... but I think Toni looks a little uncomfortable!





And finally, Rigatoni and his box. What an odd way to sleep!

Looking for Mr Upstairs

The reason it took me so long to give my current boarder the boot is that I was avoiding having to find a new one. I remember the stress of doing that last time, and I'd be happy if I never had to do it again!

The current boarder, after 2 years of always paying on time and being a fairly responsible guy, started coming home drunk and making a racket. Some days he'd bring strangers home, also drunk, and they caused problems. When he started smoking in his bedroom - and smoking hard stuff too, that was the final straw. I'd already had this guy apologise many times for not helping out around the house - but still he never changed that and I felt like I had two kids to clean up after.

SO here I am again! Advertising and hoping like hell there's someone out there who's just a nice guy (yes, most likely male, I'm not sure I could live with another female) who I can trust to be in my home with my son and my cats, who will pay on time and give us our space.

So far I've had enquiries from:
A woman from overseas who doesn't speak English very well, who wants the room at least a week before it's available, and doesn't answer my questions. No go.

A single nearly 50 guy who loves his music, lives a buddhist lifestyle, and apparently lives by his own time regardless of others. He seems like a really nice guy - but his main worry is when he can listen to his music loud, and where he can keep his stuff in our house - even though I've repeated many times that the (huge) bedroom and cupboards are his space and the rest of the house is ours. This is not a house sharing arrangement - I'm looking for a boarder! This same guy didn't ring when he said he would, didn't turn up when he said he would, then when we arranged another time he turned up over an hour late and ordered a cup of tea as soon as he arrived!

This afternoon I'm seeing another guy - he's a married man with kids but he's left the family behind while he settles into his new job and saves to buy a house so that they can all move down. Although that makes him a temporary boarder, he's so far my best bet. Lets see if I say the same thing in a couple of hours when he's been in to have a look!
As much as I hate boarder-hunting, I don't hate it anywhere near as much as the idea of having to move out of my house - and we will have to do that if we can't find someone. And so I'll keep advertising, keep interviewing, and keep hoping for Mr Upstairs to turn up real soon. I can't bear the thought of losing this house :(

Edited to add:
Oohhh this afternoons visitor seems REALLY nice! Trouble is, he doesn't seem that interested and he thinks he might be allergic to cats. Doh!

Sorry about that...

Motigo webstats have been removed. I'll miss them! But I refuse to allow anything that gives my site pop-ups!

Thanks for those who left comments. Very helpful :)

I'm so glad you guys still visit even though I was apparently throwing crap advertising at you every time you did. Sorrrrrrry :(

I wonder how they made it so that you lot got popups and yet 99.9% of the time I didn't?? Some clever cookie use or something I think!

Motigo used to be a great little service - well, they were before they were bought out and became Motigo. Tis a shame when good things go bad. Anyone know of any other site stat tools? (Or a clever bugger who can write one for me... that'd be cool. I don't ask for much, just the world lol)

Let me know if you still get advertising here. Google tells me that Motigo is definitely worthy of the blame, but if anything else I have is doing it too I'll remove it straight away. I HATE sneaky advertising!!

On another note... Look how cute my kittens are! lol

A question for you all

Does anyone get popups from my site?

Many months ago someone said they did. I thought that was weird... checked and everything was fine, no one else was getting them, so I assumed it was her computer and not my site.

Just a few months ago *I* started getting a popup when I visited my own site, but I couldn't see a reason why. Again I blamed my computer, did a full clean up, took away my clever stats thing in case it was that, and moved on - I have more important things to complain about *puts nose in the air with that hoity toity look*

But now, darnit, I'm getting popups again. I don't think it's my motigo stats (which I since put back) - hope not, because it's a very cool little thing that I don't want to give up. So please people, tell me it's just me, tell me you've never seen a popup at my site (or noticed your browser blocking popups), and then I can carry on in my happy little world knowing that I'm sticking with my plans to forever be advert free on this blog (and dammit, if there ever are ads on this blog they'd better be paying me, not sneaking in without my permission. Hurumph.)

So..... what do you see?

BTW did anyone read the small print in my last post?
It said omfg I'm so scared!
I'm not good with change...

Changes

I can't read the word changes without getting David Bowie's Ch-ch-changes song stuck in my head!

So, I've reached one of THOSE points in life. Stuff is changing all around me. It's a good thing, because nothing has changed dramatically for some time, and to be honest, I was getting bored!

Recently a very good friend moved away to Auckland - seems like so far away, but it's great we can still catch up on the net and it's only half a days travel for us to visit each other. That's quite a big change for us, since we used to catch up almost every day of the week and often did meals and/or movie nights together. It was great to have another insulin junkie around too.

Last week the painter started preparing our house for a re-paint of the outside. HUGE job - this is a massive house! I'm impressed with his speed, especially as he's doing it alone. One side of the house is almost completed already. I'm not sure about the colour scheme, he scrunched his face up while he was telling me about the owner's choice of greys & blues, but I am relieved it's not the same colours she chose for another house - lime green with blue. EW.

Last night I gave my boarder the boot. Had enough of him sneaking home drunk and trying to cook his dinner at 2am (and then, on a few occasions, going to sleep and leaving the oven on. eeeek), and I suspected he was sneaking drugs in too. That was confirmed last night when the smell of marijuana came wafting down the stairs. So, being that I'm a 'be soft til the last minute then tip over with the final straw' sort of person, we had words - surprising polite and friendly ones - and he'll be out by the end of March. We both understand each other - it's just clashing lifestyles. We're a quiet family with a 'cat zoo' who want to get on with our simple family-oriented (boring?) lives, he's a musician and single young man who needs to spread his wings and go wild. All fine but not a good match in one house.

Think positively for me please everyone - I'd like Mr Perfect to be my next boarder! If we don't find anyone we have to move out and find some pokey little flat somewhere, and that would be such a downer :(

If you can't send me Mr Perfect, then please send the winning lotto numbers :D I'd be sooo happy to have this house to myself! The boarder gets a fantastic room upstairs, about the size of 2 if not 3 normal bedrooms, with a deck off the side and a gorgeous view of the ocean. I've always wanted that bedroom!

It will be interesting to see what other changes 2008 brings for us. Bring it on!

Hyperactive kittens

My babies have grown up so much! Gone are the days of cute little sleepy kitty videos. Here's what they get up to now.

'scuse the mess - it's scattered kitty litter, thanks to Minx who has to dig to China every time she uses it.

Happy one month birthday, kitties!

A month old already?!
My babies are growing up sooo fast.

Low blood sugar blues

Could you say no to this face?

Click on Pumpkin to see him full sized. Toooo cute :)

Here he is sneaking away for cuddles with me on the couch while his mum & brother & sister slept.

They're all getting very playful now. Lots of play fighting. Every day I find new scratches on at least one of the kittens! I hate to watch it, but it's all part of growing up and learning how rough they can be without hurting.

And when they're finished with beating each other up, they all snuggle up together. Just like most siblings, I guess!



As far as I know my Sussy still hasn't made it to its recipient... they said it would take 4 - 10 days, so my fingers are tightly crossed that it arrives tomorrow (You do get mail on Saturdays in America, right?!)

O great mumble, I applaud thee

I've seen some funny posts about the search terms people use to find blog sites. Being a blogger user I don't have those stats, but I do have something similar ... my Motigo Webstats. Unfortunately it doesn't show me search terms, but it does give me a broken down list of single words.

Sometimes it's funny to read down the list as if it's a paragraph. Today I thought I'd make it into a poem, keeping the words in the same order they appear in the list (most common words at the top):

Free performa
That not day
Performa.

Old anderson
Medium gluten
Accu-chek meter.

George pee
Hands my Slice
m.stuff
In its
T.

Accu fingers
Lolcatz
Kittens.

Ahh, blessed words, so much more fun when messed up :)

Mumble bloomin' grumble bloomin' moan.

Hormones. Geeez they know how to stuff us up, don't they?

I'm menopausal. It sucks at my age, it really does. Started in my late 20s and because I'm so young it has to be dragged out until I'm about 50.

I'm now on HRT. No big deal I guess, at least it offers me some protection. And as far as I knew I had no troubles with it. (And as a bonus I still don't get periods - which I'm very very happy with thank-you-very-much!)

I clearly remember asking my doctor if the HRT would effect my blood sugars in any way.

NO says he.

A few months down the track I see an alarming thing happening with my BGs. They're climbing for a couple of weeks. I increase all insulin and freak out a bit. I test so often my fingers have polkerdots. Up up and away goes my BG no matter how many corrections I make.

And then, for another couple of weeks, I'm struggling with lows. I feel more energetic (always do when my numbers are lower) but I'm having far too many lows. So I adjust insulins again.

And so on.

As far as I knew I was just stuck in a roller coaster of insulin changes, never quite finding the right amount. I thought I wasn't paying enough attention, I thought I was probably not eating well enough, not sleeping well enough, getting stressed about stuff, and just not doing a good job.

It's taken me this long to realise that I'm having an extreme version of a woman's typical BG ups & downs that go with the monthly hormonal changes!

Fer cryin' out loud, woman! I can't believe I was so slow!

This is what's pissing me off:
My waking number is O-M-G-high! I would expect it to be a little higher than average because I slept in. But THAT high?! ouch!

It freaked me out so much that I became overcautious for most of the day. Over-jabbed for everything because I knew I was in for the same crap as the previous few days. It worked until 9pm, as you can see, where I hit an *almost* low and then bounced severely back into the teens... and never left there :(

Well geez - the good news is that I've finally clicked. From now on I'll have a planned increased basal as soon as I start the progesterone pills, instead of increasing it after a week of hassles and then having to decrease it when I'm stuck with lows. Maybe now that I realise where it's all coming from I can stay a step ahead and stop freaking out about the crazy readings.

It's times like this I'm glad I log (and I'm really glad Kevin wrote that oh-so-wonderful Excel file that so many of us love!). If I didn't log I'd never have seen the trend.

My A1c is due next week. I think there'll be a few weeks of stalling, because I'd rather wait until I know it's a bit lower. Even though I know it'll be a bit higher now, I don't want to see it confirmed! (If I don't see it, it never happened, right?)

Here's to a smoother ride from now on...

Close up kitties

Toni and Taco go a wandering

Poor old Rigatoni has something up with his left eye. It's gone all gooey around the edges and he can't open it properly :( I've been cleaning it a few times a day and it looks heaps better already, but I suspect he could be the first baby to make me poor at the vets!

Until then, here they all are being gorgeous as always :)

Toni, Pumpkin,Taco, and Noodle in front.

I have mail!

I love getting mail. Today was extra special as I got two parcels :) Double-extra-special because yesterday was my birthday so I've had lots of presents I'm feeling very well looked after :)

SUSSY!

Landileigh has obviously been reading my blog - I have Reeses Peanut butter cups! Just the thing I wanted to try :) OMG I'm going to be in chocolate heaven.

And look at the gorgeous kitty photo holder! The candle is perfect - I like to have lots of them around the edges of the bath for when I need some ME time. The hearts are apparently paper weights but I like them as bowls :D

Thank you so much, Landileigh :) What a wonderful parcel :)

This parcel is my birthday present from Trunkles:

A lightscribe DVD writer - Grrrrrr-oovy :)
The SD memory card isn't there because I had to put it in my camera in order to take the photo lol. Thanks Trunkles! I needed the 4g because I keep taking a few trillion pics and movies of the kittens every day.

And this is what I had for breakfast today:

Left over birthday cake as made by my wonderful Auntie.

The biscuits around the edges are what's left from my son's baking yesterday - he made me a batch of afghan biscuits with melted choc icing, and then wrote on them in thick blue letters. One letter each to make the words 'happy birthday'. SO yummy. And that's what I had for lunch today, along with some left over BBQ steak.

Anyone get the feeling my blood sugar could be troublesome today?!

February fluffiness

I can't believe the first month of 2008 is gone already!
But I don't care, because I HAVE KITTENS lol.

Today was Pumpkin's play day. All three came outside with us for some time under the shade of the tree, but the other two mostly slept!

So here's some Pumpkin pie cuteness:


Toni and Pumpkin resting (and Taco's nose in there too):

Toni holding his mother's face while she gave him a clean:

And all of them snuggled up: