Low Carb Holiday Goodness...

I made a comment tonight on Twitter about making some low carb roasted sweet pecans. After a few requests for the recipe, here it is :)

Sweet Spiced Pecans

Ingredients
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 pound pecan halves
• 1 cup splenda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Grease one baking sheet.
2. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and spices.
3. Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

D-blog Day 2009

Join us at 1 Happy Diabetic today!

Today is officially diabetes blog day, in honor of Diabetes Awareness month. A big thanks to Chris, over at The Big D blog for designing the awesome logo below.



I usually take forever to put together a blog. I research, I write and then re-write, and spend a lot of time trying to put together a whole feeling or message. This time I am going to go a little stream of consciousness, just for fun! Here are some of the thoughts that go through my head in any given week that involve diabetes:

1. Wow, look at all the black dots on my fingertips!

2. I wonder if my endo will get on my case for not testing 2 hours after meals like I use to do religiously? With my new job it has been hard to do this...

3. How did I ever survive without a CGMS?

4. In an average year I use approximately 4500 test strips. At about a buck a piece, I sure could go on a killer vacation each year with all that money!

5. Oooohhh, look! They have a low carb version of pita bread!

6. If there was a cure today, would I still think of myself as a diabetic?

7. Diabetes sure does make me a strong person.

8. Diabetes makes me feel weak sometimes.

9. I hate asking for help with inserting a DexCom sensor in my arm, but I love that my husband is willing to do it for me.

10. I wonder if I my dog can tell when I am low or high?

11. I sure carry around a lot of food with me...

12. My purse is sooooo heavy!

13. Fruit juice, glucose tabs, or left over candy? Which should I have to treat this low?

14. It isn’t fair I have to deal with diabetes.

15. I wonder if there will ever be a cure...

You can be 1happydiabetic, it’s all about your attitude!

Suzanne

No D Day

George, our buddy over at The B.A.D. blog came up with the idea of a no D Day for the blogosphere for October 1st. So today’s blog post will have nothing to do with _______ for a change :)

So I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to talk about today. I started a list of things I do every day beyond focusing on ______. I am realizing I spend way too much time on my PC, as evidenced by some of the letters wearing off on my laptop!



Here is a short list of the average PC focused day:

1. Email-I really need to unsubscribe to the many listserves I am a member of. I get over 200 emails a day.

2. Job sites-I will be so glad when I don’t have to spend hours a day combing these anymore. I also realized I spend at least an hour a day on the phone trying to network with folks in my field.

3. Typing cover letters and following up with places I have applied to already. Of course the keyboard gets a rest when I do follow up calls.

4. www.digg.com – This site is guilty of sucking hours out of my day, I can read articles for hours from this site.

5. www.cuteoverload.com – This site can entertain me through cute pictures and videos. I end up in the archives and lose quite a bit of time there!

6. www.hulu.com – Do I really need to watch old episodes of 30 Days or Tattoo Highway out here? No, but I find myself back at this site watching TV shows and clips. I did discover The Big Bang Theory from this site so there is some value there, I swear!

7. Communicating with my classmates – lots of time spent here recently as we gear up for our graduation ceremony that is tomorrow, October 2nd.

8. Syncing my iPhone – For a phone that doesn’t even have a service plan yet, I sure spend a ton of time dumping songs, apps, and videos to it.

I realized that I really need my mini vacation that is coming up next week! Time to recharge by hitting the friendly skies and heading to the west coast. I am excited to meet a lot of my online friends in real life. Blogs and vlogs will be on the agenda when I get back as I plan on driving my buddies crazy with my cameras! Stay tuned….

Diabetic Cupcakes & Google Search Weirdness….

Visit our site, 1happydiabetic.com today!

If you do not use Twitter, I suggest you give it a try! It’s a great way to connect with others in the online D world. Everyday I am able to connect with folks all over the world who deal with the D. Great friendships have been built from these connections. Yesterday there was a theme in the D community on Twitter which revolved around cupcakes. The end result gave me a much needed smile yesterday so I wanted to share the tweets with you guys!

suzanne_una RT @diabetesalic: @Diabetic_Iz_Me @Ninjabetic- CUPCAKE? Who said cupcake? Who has a cupcake? COUNT ME IN!

Diabetic_Iz_Me @diabetesalic @suzanne_una i want a cupcake sooooooo bad

diabetesalic @Diabetic_Iz_Me @suzanne_una ME 2. i've been good as of late. Dreaming of a vanilla cupcake w/ vanilla coconutcream icing.

suzanne_una @Diabetic_Iz_Me @diabetesalic Me too! I have been dreaming about it all afternoon! I almost went to the bakery LOL

ElizabethArnold @Diabetic_Iz_Me @suzanne_una @diabetesalic Too late, Kelly, the damage is already done (she says, stuffing her face with packaged icing.)

ElizabethArnold @diabetesalic Wouldn't that be awesome, a bunch of d-peeps pigging out at a bakery? We pwn you, diabetes!

Now the conversation gets a little weird and silly, as it is prone to do on Twitter…

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una There's a cupcake store near here that sells "Diabetic cupcakes".It always makes me think they need insulin.Poor things.

suzanne_una @notsostilllifes those poor cupcakes, having to take shots and do BG tests LOL!

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una who would ever EAT the poor little things??

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una It is quite an image. Not exactly what they were going for I'm sure.
suzanne_una @notsostilllifes I'm sure that was not the image they were going for! Makes me want to photoshop a pic of a cupcake who is diabetic :)

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una DO IT!

So off to Google I go to do a search for a cupcake that I can turn into a diabetic cupcake using photoshop. I have this image in my head of a scrumptious looking cupcake with test strips next to it and an insulin syringe sticking into the side of it. All while the cupcake looks shocked it is getting a shot. I am not a super artistic person but ideas like this get my creative juices flowing! As is often the case with Google searches, it takes you a couple of tries before you find that perfect search string. I was searching under “cartoon cupcakes with faces” and here is one of the images Google brought up:



It’s Kerri from Six Until Me! Kerri is one of my favorite bloggers in the D world. A diabetic eating a cupcake! Wow, thanks Google, that sure met my search criteria (NOT). So what’s a girl to do when this kind of funny silliness pops into a Google search? Why Tweet a picture out to the D people who have been discussing cupcakes all afternoon….

@notsostilllifes while looking for model to turn into a diabetic cupcake, google came up w this photo http://twitpic.com/jnhs9 @sixuntilme

Remember, you can be 1happydiabetic too, it’s all about your attitude!

Suzanne

I’ve come to realize….a Monday meme....

I’m on the meme bus with my buddies LeeAnn & George. All aboard!

1. I’ve come to realize that my chest-size…
apparently is shrinking as I lose weight!

2. I’ve come to realize that my job…
will be super cool once I find it, LOL

3. I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving…
I have little patience for bad drivers and this causes obscene language on my part.

4. I’ve come to realize that I need…
to spend more time on the job hunt and less time tweeting.

5. I’ve come to realize that I have lost…
my mind(on occasion)! Seriously, I have lost my fear to try new things.

6. I’ve come to realize that I hate it when…
plans fall through.

7. I’ve come to realize that if I’m drunk…
I am fun instead of morose like I use to be.

8. I’ve come to realize that money…
is what the world runs on and I am quickly running out of it.

9. I’ve come to realize that certain people…
suck.
10. I’ve come to realize that I’ll always …
like who I am, for all my flaws.

11. I’ve come to realize that my siblings…
my sister is very much the youngest child still. Even though she has been married for 12 years and has 2 kids, when we go to the store together she will pick something up and ask me to buy it for her.

12. I’ve come to realize that my mom…
was one of the smartest, funniest people on the planet. I miss you, mom!

13. I’ve come to realize that my cell phone…
is a piece of crap and I need a new one, ASAP. Oh if only I could afford to get service on my iPhone, that would be wonderful!

14. I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning…
that I had not slept in so late since being diagnosed with diabetes in 1986. Darn alarm clock!

15. I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep…
that I was starving to death from basal testing.

16. I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking…
I should be doing laundry.

17. I’ve come to realize that my dad…
is who he is and I accept him for that.

18. I’ve come to realize that when I get on Facebook…
I don’t really go on Facebook that much anymore, too busy tweeting.

19. I’ve come to realize that today…
is the day before I get to meet @MarkMansheim in person, wooot!

20. I’ve come to realize that tonight…
I will be trying to show my hubby how awesome the show Dexter is.

21. I’ve come to realize that tomorrow…
I have to go to the gym, seriously.

22. I’ve come to realize that I really want to…
be a rockstar!

23. I’ve come to realize that the person who is most likely to repost this is…
is one of my twitter buds.

24. I’ve come to realize that life…
can be amazing, it’s all in how you look at it.

25. I’ve come to realize that this weekend…
I need to shop for a graduation dress. It’s not fair I have to wear a dress when the boys get to wear pants. We should all have to wear dresses! No, wait a minute, hahaha

26. I’ve come to realize that marriage…
is much better if you marry someone who is as invested in the relationship as you are.

27. I’ve come to realize that my friends…
are incredible, wonderful people.

28. I’ve come to realize that this year…
is about change and challenges.

29. I’ve come to realize that my ex is…
really a good person, we just weren’t right for one another.

30. I’ve come to realize that maybe I should…
spend some time doing something nice for my hubby.

31. I’ve come to realize that I love…
the excitement that comes with going on a vacation.

32. I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand…
why medicine and diabetes supplies are so darn expensive.

33. I’ve come to realize my past…
shaped me and made me stronger.

34. I’ve come to realize that parties…
are something I need to go to more often.

35. I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified…
of failure and that it’s OK to be terrified sometimes, just not all the time.

Why So Serious?

Diabetes is a serious chronic illness, we all know that. But does that mean we have to be doom and gloom all the time? Heck no! That is part of why www.1happydiabetic.com exists. It is to remind you that life is too short to not just let loose and laugh yourself silly sometimes. We have all heard the saying “laughter is the best medicine” and there is truth to that. Laughter can relax you, reduce stress, help your immune system and more. So it should be part of your health care regimen :)

So today I bring you pictures that make me laugh that are related to the big D. Visit the Photo Gallery HERE to see more funny diabetes pictures and add your own today!









Don’t forget we also have a video section that is dedicated to diabetes humor. Check it out HERE and feel free to add your own videos or videos that made you laugh!

Be Happy,

Suzanne

I Am Thankful

Today has been a pretty awesome day for me and it got me thinking about what I am thankful for. So here is my list (in no particular order) of what I am thankful for. What are you thankful for? If you haven’t done it lately, take a minute and think about the blessings in your life.

1. My health. I have had diabetes for the past 23 years but I am doing pretty darn good on this front. A few bumps in the road so far but I am stronger and healthier now than I have been since I was a teen.

2. My husband. He is the most supportive person I have ever known and he accepts me as I am, warts and all.

3. My family. I have the best sister in the world and great in-laws. I am very fortunate!

4. My DOC friends. You guys get what it is like to live with diabetes unlike most of my friends. I value the relationships I have built over the last year and I look forward to the road ahead, with my diabetes buddies at my side! I love you guys!

5. My school friends. These are the folks who kept me in check when I needed to be kept in check! These are my study buddies and friends for life.

6. That I am officially finished with grad school! I have had my degree conferred as of today, which means even though I have not walked in the graduation ceremony, I do have a Master’s degree now. I still can’t believe it!

7. That I have an insulin pump. It took me years to break down and get one and now you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands before you get it away from me. OK, that is morbid, but you get the point!

8. That the world is filled with possibilities and I am excited as to where life will take me next.

9. And finally, I am thankful for my furry children, Chloe the dog and China the cat. They are always happy to see me and they don’t mind if I am in a foul mood due to blood sugar issues.