Banana Pancakes.

I saw Briley tweet a while back about making banana pancakes. Not only did they sound delicious, but she promised me they were super easy to make - only two ingredients.

Only two? How good could they be?

OMG, you guys. So good.

Things to like about these:

• easy to make - just need bananas, eggs, and a bit of oil
• bananas tend to be nice to my BGs, but YDMV
• they are paleo and gluten-free, if that matters to you
• they received stamps of approval from both my daughter and my dog

You can find instructions on Briley's blog, and this recipe is the one I also consulted. Can you really call it a "recipe" if it's only two ingredients?

Whatever it is, it's delicious and doesn't cause the BG spike that typical pancakes cause for me. Wins all around.

Weekend Update.

Here's my last few days in a nutshell. And when I say "nutshell", I mean "photo collage".

Top Row: Finding new uses for that Vera Bradley case; I've been low-carbing like a boss this week, and every time I do, I see why it was a wise choice.

Bottom Row: Billy had been having some rather ungentlemanly digestive problems (you really don't want details, but rest assured, it was super gross town) since early Wednesday morning, and when I got home from work a little early on Friday, I was greeted with more, er, "evidence" in his kennel. A quick call to the vet lead to an impromptu appointment there, and we now have some meds and special food to feed him for the next few days. He's resting and recovering comfortably, except for the part where he has to lay next to Aaron's shoes, but hey, if that's the worst he has it... anyway, he seems to be fine, now. Whew.

I realize I need to do a "here's how I feel about it now that I've been using it a while" video for the new Dexcom... I don't know when I'll get to that. I hope soon. In the meantime, you should totally read Chris' review over at A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. It's quality.

A Short Roundup.

Things! Stuff! I have these! And the Corgi-to-other-things ratio is pretty high!

• So... rashes are a good time. I discovered one this morning, not from a pump or CGM site thank goodness, but it was mildly amusing that a bandaid I wore for eight hours (oh hi, gusher last night) does more damage to my skin than the CGM sensor adhesive (and Flexifix tape) that I wear for 19 days. Yay? I don't know how to feel about this.
• It occurred to me just this morning that I have three dishes to make for three different family gatherings (on on Wedneday night after work, and two on Thursday) and I have absolutely no idea what I'm making, or when I'm finding the time to make whatever those things will be. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Tell me Corgi puppies aren't the cutest dang thing you've ever seen.
• Okay, adult Corgis are pretty okay, too. This should surprise exactly none of you.
• Did you know that JDRF's Juvenation community has a new name? Go check it.
• I've been trying to keep up with the #NDAMphotoaday challenge, but I haven't been entirely successful. Follow me on Instagram (my profile is here), if you're not a robot made of spam.
• And if you'd like more coherent ramblings than this post, you'll find them in the form of contributions to the Timesulin site, the Glu community, and Insulet's "Suite D" blog.

Let's cap this off with some some more Corgi photos - this time, of one you might recognize. D'awww.

Excellent.

Wordless Wednesday: Not How This Works, Bro.

Sara, Meet Crazy Eyes.

The eagle has landed!

(And when I say "eagle", I mean Sara.)

ROADTRIP!

Tonight, along with Aaron, we'll drive to Des Moines, IA for the Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) conference, which takes place tomorrow. We'll be exhibiting a table for the You Can Do This Project, and I also will be helping to co-present a session on CGM use. (!) Good times! Unfortunately, Billy won't be part of them, but he'd probably just end up tripping people in the exhibit hall anyway.

More to come next week - Sara and I are off to do some cornhusker-ish sight seeing before we head out of town. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Your Day Just Got WAY Better, Didn't It?

Semantics.

"Going for a ride" = exciting.

"Going for a ride" = exhausting.

Cleaning.

As I pack myself up to fly to Florida tomorrow, I'm also cleaning a few things out - like my inbox, and all of the pictures on my phone.

* A company called Orpyx (they sell sensor-based devices for both medical and athletic stuff, and are currently focusing on technologies involving DPN [diabetic peripheral neuropathy]). Complications are one of those topics that can totally shut down a conversation for us PWDs - who wants to talk about that kind of stuff, right? But the more we know, the more we can do - for ourselves and others. In that spirit, here's a flashy (but kind of long) animated infographic they put together on the topic of DPN and foot care.

* Glooko announced earlier this week that they've launched in the EU - read the press release here.

* Medtronic Diabetes has a couple new things up their sleeves: a Facebook app that will feature patients' milestones right along with Medtronic's product launches and updates. A synopsis:

The app allows customers to upload photos and stories about the important moments in their lives – whether its climbing a mountain, learning to cook or just spending time with family. The app captures the information as a life event and shares on that individual’s Facebook wall. In addition, it allows us to post that life event as a milestone on the Medtronic Diabetes timeline. So, essentially we’re crowdsourcing our Facebook timeline. We did this because we want our timeline to be filled with more than just the innovation milestones of new products – we also want it to include the milestones of the people who use our technology every day.

Also, on the MySentry front, coverage has expanded:

Wellmark of Iowa has established coverage for mySentry for individuals who are currently using insulin pump therapy and CGM and are still experiencing glucose fluctuations or nocturnal hypoglycemia. We also just found out from our reimbursement team that BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico have all lowered the documentation requirements for CGM, expanding access to the technology to more people with diabetes in those states.

Hooray!

* On a more self-promotional front, the You Can Do This Project website has a couple of noticable changes. First: you know that link list that I had to keep on this site (because Wordpress.com won't accept the link widget)? Well, it's going away soon.

I've wanted everything involving YCDT on that site for a while, and now that most of the videos have been added to that site, now seems like a good time to make the transition. This may leave you wondering, "So if there's no link list, how do I submit a new video?", which is a nice transition to my second point, so thanks for that. New videos will now be submitted through the online form on the "how to participate" page - go take a look!

* This made me laugh, and then immediately made me feel guilty for laughing.

* And now for the photo dump portion of this post:

Billy Corgin says Hi.

Nice try, Jif, but I'm not falling for it.

My first No Hitter in weeks. WEEKS. Boom!

* And lastly, be warned that things could be pretty quiet around here for a bit as I'll be spending the week in Florida - first with Sara and then at the CWD Friends For Life conference. I don't have any guest posts or anything lined up while I'm gone, nor do I know how often I'll have the ability to blog while I'm there, but if you follow me on Twitter (or like my Facebook page) I'll be updating those frequently. I plan to take many, many pictures and record a lot of video, so look out for that ahead, too.

Later, dudes!

Pockets and Ruffles Needed.

So. Much. Going. On. Bullet points to the rescue!

• I signed up for Tumblr after searching the diabetes hashtag (is it called that, there?) and wishing I could connect with those folks. I am finding out that I have little to no idea how this site works. Can I comment on stuff? (Doesn't seem like it.) It took me a really long time to even figure out how to change the blog title from "Untitled". Sigh.
• I'm attending a local JDRF Gala this Saturday and am freaking out a bit; partly because I'm in the fundraising video this year (maybe I'll be able to share it after the event - we'll see), partly because I'll be speaking (only for about a minute, after the video has played - like, "Oh! Look! She's a real person!", and partly because I'm having last-minute panic that my dress isn't dressy enough. Accessory shopping, you are in my future.
• Brussel sprouts were consumed in our home for the first time last night, and they actually weren't terrible. I dare say that I actually enjoyed them.
• Also for the first time, I managed to forget THREE important things this morning: my medical ID, my wedding rings, AND my Dexcom receiver. I'm winning all over the place today, so watch out.
• Speaking of my Dexcom and the Gala, I just realized that I'm probably not going to be able to fit both my insulin pump AND my CGM inside my dress. Why didn't I buy a dress with pockets, or with eye-deceiving ruffles of some sort?
• Just when I think I won't have time to draw any cartoons for a good long while because I'm working on other things, I see Ryan Gosling show up on Pinterest, Tumblr and Facebook and decide that, okay, maybe I should keep drawing, because people seem to be fond of these things.
• I have no idea what's being said in this video (it's in Japanese), but that does not make it any less awesome.
• Also, you haven't had any Billy pictures for a while. Here's your remedy:

Wordless Wednesday: Travel Companion?

Wordless Wednesday: Billy Corgin Flashback.

Was he ever this little? And was that really just nine
months ago? And how did we get him to pose as if
he were the Most Interesting Man In The World?

Billy's Birthday Blowout.

Billy Corgin turned one year old yesterday, and because I'm slightly ridiculous, I baked him a cake. And put a hat on him. And made him pose for pictures.

Totally normal, yeah?

Enjoy.

Birthday car ride! (If only I were a bit taller...)

Homemade doggie cake - recipe lost to the Internet Gods. RIP 

Yes, I made him wear a stupid hat. With notches cut
out for his ginormous ears. Not that it stayed where
I put it, but I tried - and he was a good sport.

One good shot! Yes! (Notice I had to hold him back
from diving nose-first into that cake. He was EXCITED.

Nom nom nom...

Stick a paw in it. He's done.

Asking For Feedback.

Over the past several months, I've been running this video project thing called You Can Do This. It has been awesome, and while I'm so very proud of everything that's been contributed and the impact it's had on people, I feel like there is potential for it to do so much more to help people feel okay about this whole 'living with diabetes' thing. There are so many more people to reach. So much more good to do.

(I also will mention that there have been some behind-the-scenes things that almost happened last year, but because of timing or other reasons, just didn't. Which is a huge bummer, because they would have been awesome. Those doors aren't closed yet, however.)

My feeling is that while I may have created the project, I may not necessarily know everything there is to know when it comes to carrying out all of my ideas, or when it comes to expanding the project's reach. I am a fan of crowdsourcing, and I'm hoping you'll help me a bit with this.

In an effort to figure out both where it's been and where the people who are helped by this stuff would like to see it go, I created a survey that you can find by clicking here. It's just 9 questions (but two pages - just click "next" at the bottom to find the last five questions) and shouldn't take too long, but I'd really appreciate any feedback you can give me. I want to make sure I'm staying true to what people expect and want from You Can Do This - because it's about you guys, not me.

What's that? You'd like to be bribed in order to take the survey? Well, fine. Here you go.

Updated: I should mention that I'm leaving the survey up through the weekend, so it will close on 2/19/12 at midnight.

Blech.

image credit

I'm on day three of feeling like some green gooey monster armed with sand paper has taken over my sinuses and throat (I know - eww), and I have a doctor appointment set for this afternoon so that hopefully we can banish this beast with some antibiotics. Thankfully, diabetes has been playing nice through this bout of The Sickies (maybe because I haven't eaten much?), so I'm hoping the addition of new meds won't mess that up.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Billy being a lazy bum.

Action shot!

Yes, that's a dish towel sewn to his doggie bed. Sometimes he gets chewy,
and sometimes you have to patch that up with whatever fabric
feels most like his doggie bed so that he won't notice and will
STOP CHEWING ON HIS BED.

I'm feeling very... slee... zzzzzz

That's My Dog!

Billy Corgin happens to be the featured dog on The Daily Corgi today. Go check it out... you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

There is a dog in there! Welcome to my house, dog! Let me sniff you.

Shake It Out.

It's Monday morning, which may mean that you need some cuteness to get your day going. Enjoy watching our dog shake his tailfeather and repeatedly nosedive into the bathmat.

Nothing Says "Diabetes Blog" Like Pictures Of Corgis In Various Displays Of Winter Enjoyment.



Billy's first big snow! (There was much
more than this later on, but it got harder
to take pictures without getting very
expensive electronic equipment
wet and ruined.)





Enjoying a friend's tree (which provides
plenty of "shade" from their very large
Labradoodle puppy who will chase
Billy around the house until he just
gives up and lays down in defeat.
And exhaustion.)!





Reluctantly wearing his winter jacket.



We're Getting Smurfy For Diabetes.

There's a lot of blue going on around here...



Since JDRF isn't using this logo anymore, could this be considered
a vintage scarf? How fancy!



Nevermind the eye puffery - I just woke up.

..and later today I'll be contributing to the "Diabetes 11.11.11" project. Will you? (Could you, would you, while you wear blue?) /end Dr. Suess moment

Happy Howl-O-Ween.

My dog wants to say...

I hope you all have a safe and fun night. :)

Nobody Panic; The Coffee Is Safe.

A small list of things, because that's how I'm rolling today:

• Blog stats tell me that the search term "pictures of awesome" frequently brings people here. I do post a lot of Billy pictures (and may have tried to put glasses on him last night to see what would happen - he wasn't okay with it), so I guess that makes sense.
• The building I work in is going to be experiencing some construction for the next two months - actually, it will all be happening on my floor, specifically. They're building a wall and a new door (with a swipey badge thing - technical terms, people) to close off my area, but this also means that we won't be able to access our break room for that time. My first thought upon hearing this might have been, "But how will I get to the coffeemaker???" Rest assured - they're relocating that, too. We're safe.
• In pancreas-related news, I saw my doctor again last week. I didn't realize we were checking my A1C until she told me what the result was. Although it's higher than I want it to be (7.1), it is unchanged from last time - and I'm counting that as a good thing. I can be okay with consistency. Onward!
• I can't believe I'm thinking about Christmas already. WHAT.

I also saw something on Twitter about diabetes flash mobs? Color me intrigued. And blue. ;)