Poppies

I've spent a lot of time reviewing old photos. Most of these I got when Mom passed and so many of them I wish I had seen before and could have asked about the story. Scrapbooking for me has morphed into wanting to tell the story instead of just making a pretty page. But now, I am left with a bunch of photos and no stories. 

Some of the photos I do have stories because I was apart of the event and old enough to remember what was going on. These photos all have a story. Enter the California Poppies

This is BY FAR my favorite photo of mom and dad. Taken during one of our trips to the poppy fields, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Every year Mom, Dad and I would load into a car and head out. Dad loved photographing the poppies and they felt this was a good way to spend the day as a family. I have some very fond memories of these trips. Even as a teenager I was ok with going out with them to see the poppies. 

One year Grandma and Grandpa Wraspir were staying with us. Dad thought it a good opportunity to go see the poppies. 

Grandma loved seeing them. Grandpa loved seeing them because Grandma loved seeing them. 

This particular year - 1984 - are likely THE most embarrassing photos of my teenage year. Why did mom let me leave wearing a tube top? 

I mean, really? What was I thinking?

When I look at these photos I can't help but feel so much happiness. I miss all these people in these photos and am so glad that Dad "made" me go with them. It was a tradition for us each year and I can imagine as a teenage girl I likely didn't want to always go, or I pretended I didn't want to, but I always enjoyed myself. And now, as an adult without Mom and Dad here, I cherish these memories. 

What's In a Number?

It's been about a month since I got my new hardware. It's be a ride, let me tell you. Every day an experience as I prick my left ring finger and drop a very small amount of blood on a test strip. Then I wait, and do a little finger crossing that the numbers are "ok". 

Some days I'm happy about the number. Other days, I'm excited to see how low it is only to see it higher than anything. It's frustrating. 

Along with me on the journey is a D counselor we'll call R. He and I have a call every couple of weeks now and he answers all the questions I have about glucose and what not. He helps me set realistic goals and makes sure I am aware of what certain foods do to your glucose levels. It's been an educational experience, I'll tell you that. All those things I learned about eating "low carb" no longer matters in the same way. Something that is considered "low carb" may be have a high glycemic number (bacon for example). 

Anyhow, we chatted yesterday and I was telling him how frustrated I was that days I felt I ate well and in a calorie deficit, my number is high. Then days I around my calorie limit, the next day the numbers are low. It confused me. 

Apparently, eating is something you have to do when you are trying to maintain your blood sugar. Who knew? It seems very counter intuitive to me that the less you eat the higher your numbers. But R convinced me. He said there are nights that I may need to eat something right before bed to get the right amount of calories! 

So, yah, that's been fun to deal with. I've been doing little experiments around what I can eat and how it impacts my numbers. R is on board with this. He says it's best I figure out the sweet spot and the only way to do that is by testing things. 

I've added to my daily walking with F too. We are committed to doing another 30 days of 30 minutes of work out (walking or otherwise). R wants me to get more strength training in, so F and I will start that next week. I've added "hills" to my walking as in I push the button that says "hills" on the treadmill and it magically changes the incline. I find I really like it. 

So the best part is my AC1 numbers have dropped by 1.1 points! That's huge! My goal is to drop 1 more point. Between eating better, exercise and meds it's totally doable. So stay tuned!