Well yesterday Norman and I went to the Air Show at the EX – it was interesting as far as it went.

We originally where going to go to the EX with Dad and Uncle Brian, but do to mom’s failing health had to make other arrangements – so it worked out that Norman and I went on Sunday while dad and Uncle brian went today. Seems that Norman and I had much better weather for our time at the EX then dad and uncle brian have gotten today – oh well it happens.

We didn’t watch the whole air show yesterday, Norman wasn’t that interested in it as I’d hoped he’d end up being – then again I’ve not really be into the Air Show in several years, yet yesterday for the first time in years I actually was enjoying the show – maybe because I could see it without getting to blasted hot for me it was nice and cool thus easer to watch what was going on, that and the low cloud cover made watching it easer for me.

One thing about the air show that I know I liked was seeing the frigate ship H.M.C.S. Fredericton was a great high light – would have like to have been able to have gotten down to where it was docked today to be able to have had a tour of it, but that wasn’t going to happen, but still it was cool to be able to see in even at a distance during the show itself

After catching some of the show we headed off to look around the rest of the EX, first to the Better Living Center that they had turned into the Farm (yes you could pet some of the animals). After that we went over to the Hobbies and Craft building, unfortunately one of the places I wonted to get something from wasn’t there this year it did appear, but there was an interesting exhibit on display that was of various shapes and sizes of female busts called the “Beautiful Women Project.

After that we headed to the Salivation Army’s truck that serves tea/coffee and hot chocolate for a loony, after which we headed over to the food building to find something to eat – Norman ended up having a bad Phillie and Cheese, he said no to the hot sauce and they still added it (he didn’t know till we’d left the building) and I ended up with my stand by of Swiss Chalet not what I wonted I’d have like to have had chinese food, but I didn’t trust anything I saw enough to even try to eat any of it without issues.

After our meal we headed out into the fair grounds themselves, and Norman ended up playing a couple of the games that caught his attention, though he didn’t win anything – can close but not close enough. We eventually made our way to the Energy Building where they had the international stuff and walked around there for over an hour looking at what was on offer and making some notes on items that we’d like to get in out future (clothing wise and furniture wise). Yes its called planning our future and imaging that items would be nice to have in our future home. We know its not going to be reality for some time to come, but hay dreams do come true.

After that we made our way back towards to food building, to find something to snack on – which didn’t happen after looking around we couldn’t find anything that was within a good price range for us or that I could have without issue (I’d have loved to have had soft serve but with my dairy issues of late it wasn’t a good option). So we headed over to the bandshell and the RibFest which wasn’t that great in general, if I had known that they had blooming onion there I’d have gone for that as my choice in food over what I had chosen but since I didn’t it didn’t happen – oh well. After sitting around and just talking we headed towards the Children’s area and got a snow cone, Norman’s first since he was 5 y/o and my first since I was about 13 y/o.

After that we headed out to come home, though before coming home we stopped off at Price Choopers to prick up some Ice Cream for Norman to have later on in the week as the mood strikes him to have it. After that we headed home.

So all in all it was a good day out at the EX, but it was more costly then I would have thought it to be. cost us just over 70 bucks for the day, wasn’t pleased with that in general – we’re thinking that next year that we might just go for the after 5pm deal if its on offer other wise for get it, not going at all. Though like all things well see how it goes when the time does come.

It is a term that some women use to say that they wont to have a child and because they wish to have a child they also assume that other women have the same calling going on or will have it later in life as one draws closer to menopause and the internal clock starts to slow down and stop ticking.

But what if you are one of those women who thinks other wise? What if you don’t have that internal clock ticking away counting down your years of fertility that are left? What if you actually have made the choice that you do not wish to have a child of your own, that you are happy being without?

Many women can’t understand this line of thought, much less identify with it for what ever reason, just as if you’ve chosen not to have a child its hard to understand why anyone would wont to have one, or at least that is the case for some women who have chosen not to have a child. Then there are those who for what ever reason are unable to have a child of their own for various reasons outside of their control. For them the clock stopped ticking and that call that some speak of never stopped calling to them when the clock stopped ticking.

Regardless of if you feel your clock is ticking and that you need to have a child now or never there is always that other side of the coin, the side which many end up facing and having to deal with. You’ve been told you are infertile or that your partner is infertile either way there will not be a child of your genes to carry on your family line, it ends with you or a sibling.

The option to choose to adopt is a valid question to ask yourself if you wish to have a child in your life, for some its a very good option one that will bring much joy and happiness but for some even that joy of adopting a child who needs a family will be lost to them for various reasons. Adoption is not an easy deal to go though with, its not cheap by any means and some of the hoops and tap you have to jump though and cut are just not possible to do for some couples. This can leave a spot in your life that some have the need to fill be it with become the super aunt to all the kids in the nabourhood and their own siblings children to volunteering to be a big sister or mentor to children in need within the local community.

This can also apply to degrees to those who have chosen not to have children, some who have chosen not to have children for what ever reasons, might still feel the need to care for other peoples children because it fits a part of them that other wise just can’t be explained. I am sure many have had that aunt or uncle or teacher who you can’t understand why they wouldn’t or don’t have a child of their own since they are very good with children, yet for how good they are they just don’t wish to have any. Those who wish to help children but have nun of their own know that either having a child of their own isn’t right for them to have or for what ever reason its just not an area that will happen for them, thus they put their energies into doing what will help them fill that part of their life – working with children.

Not all who do not wish to have children dislike them, many enjoy spending time with them and helping them learn and grow, being the big sister or brother that the child might not have or the aunt or uncle who has time for them when all the other adults seem to be to busy to pay them any attention. There are many faces to those who have chosen not to have children as there are to those who have chosen to have them.

So regardless of if you feel your womb is calling or that is not a part of you we all share various things within the human dynamic that no one is better then another, we each have something to contribute to this plant of ours no matter how small it might well be.

Well the question comes up time and time again on various sites around the web, about blocking or not blocking people who follow you are on twitter. Since there is no hard or fast rule when it comes to this side of things, the following is just my personal point of view and what I do when it comes to blocking, unfollowing, etc on twitter.

Follow/Unfollow
As many I am sure have experienced over your time on twitter, however short or long it might well be. You might well have noticed that some people or groups will follow you then unfollow you only to refollow you then unfollow once again. It seems like a strange thing to watch people do this not to mention annoying to various degrees. But to me the worse offenders are those who follow you and when you look over their information you find that they look interesting enough to follow back, so you do so only to have them unfollow you in short order.

Then the questions comes to why did they unfollow you? should you also unfollow them? My rule of thumb is if they are truly interested in what I have to say they wouldn’t have unfollowed me after I followed them, thus if they have chosen to unfollow me I will also unfollow them.

Some times twitter does glitch and someone who is following you will end up unfollowing you, in this case I will do a reply tweet to them asking if they unfollowed me on purpose if they do not respond by refollowing me or though a reply in return I will more times then naught unfollow them as well. Regardless of their reasons for unfollowing me I will not follow someone who I though was interested in following me who has now unfollowed me. Might sound sad or wrong depending on how you view things but its how it is to me, if you are not willing to follow what I am posting then why should I follow what you have to say, simple as that.

Block/Unblock
When it comes to Blocking someone on twitter that choice might well be much easer for some people then others, depending on how you view things. I auto block anyone who spams me content who after viewing their account info proves that they have also spammed others with the same info – those type of people I spam block (which means I report them for spamming then block them).

There are on occasions that I have blocked someone for what ever reason, in the early days it was because I didn’t understand much about twitter or why people would follow me who I didn’t have anything in apparent common with (though a year or so later I’d find out other wise) so I’d block them from following me. Later I might well find out that we did have something in common, and I’d unblock them.

My main deal now for blocking people is pure spam, is someone is spamming me that is now the only time I will block anyone, though there are some exceptions to that rule like all things. Some people i just have no interest in letting them follow me (mostly because they have either dun the yo-yoing of follow unfollow follow one to many times that I’ve put them into the category of not worth my time for what ever reason).

Thus there are many reasons to block someone as their are to unblock someone who is following you or might not be follow you just plain out spamming you.

Someone Who’s Blocked You
Well the simple truth is you can’t follow someone who has blocked you, its how the block works. Most people don’t know that someone has blocked them till they try to follow the person for what ever reason and get the message that they have been blocked from following that person. This can cause some frustrations on many levels – more so if you have no idea why the person has blocked you and you know they are following other people that you are also following who are following you.

People will block other people for various reason, some its because you tweet more then they like, others its because you have a different religious point of view then they do, or what ever reason that is only known to them that they have taken a dislike to you for what ever reason. You cant ask them why they blocked you because you can’t contact them not less they are willing to talk to a mutual person they are following who you follow and that said person is willing to ask about the matter.

Its best to just move on and just shake your head and say not worth it, because in basic form its not worth being upset over or worrying about, if they wish to block you that is their issues not yours (even if it still irks you the they did that).

The Unfollow
Many times you will come acorss those who once followed you but who no longer are following you. Its not as uncommon as some might think but it does happen, you will be following the person for a time, a couple of months, to a year or more and then you notice they are no longer following you.

What changed why did they unfollow you? Many reasons might be there that they no longer follow you, I know for myself several people have stopped following me because I’m not twittering about certain topics like I use to, thus I’m no longer of interest to them to follow. For other’s its because I might well tweet to much (yes some days I can put out over 100 tweets over the course of a day, and for some this is to much and they just unfollow because they don’t wont to read that many tweets from me) for their liking, regardless of the reason that they unfollow its their issues. I might not like it myself that someone I was tweeting with now has stopped tweeting with me but once again its their call to say they no longer wish to tweet with me.

Another reason to unfollow someone is because they haven’t tweeted in over a month, some people have their own rules about how long they will follow someone who hasn’t tweeted for – my personal rule is 6 months of no tweeting and I unfollow, a year of no tweeting and I take them off my tweet list. I’ve tweeted with others on this topic and its a general deal that no tweets equals not following – big time since Twitter has set limits on how many people you can follow and who can follow you, so some times taking those who no longer tweet off your follow list is the only way to be able to follow new people who catch your interest.

Well like always, if you have comments or wish to talk with me send me a tweet or comment on my blog.
Take care everyone
Nyx

Topic 1: Driving and Diabetes
Q1. Do you test before you drive?
I always test before I drive now that I’m on insulin – I know that driving for me is a stressor ad it can shot my levels up or bottom me out, so I have to make sure I’m in a stable zone before driving or there could be issues.

Part 2 of Q1: How would you feel if testing before you drive became a law?
Well its already law that you have to be stable not having uncontrolled lows so I might not like the idea of testing being forced upon me by the government but since I do it any how, it wouldn’t much of an issue in general.

Topic 2: Alcohol and diabetes
Q2: If you drink and are of legal age, What affects does alcohol have on your bgs?
I’m legal to drink but I don’t drink because I choose not to do so

Topic 3: College/leaving home and Diabetes
Q3. How do you/did you manage your diabetes and leaving home for the first time?
When I first was told I was diabetic it was a few months before I moved out and there were no issues, I was controlled and had no issues. However, moving down to the US was another matter – it was a night mare while living down there with my hubby. I wasn’t able to get them under control at all for 6 months I lived with uncontrolled glucose levels. Either hitting mmol 25 or bottoming out at mmol 2.8 I was so NOT pleased and there was no help to be had down there at all.

Q3.5. Any words of wisdom or insight for a PWD leaving home for the first time?
If going to a foreign country try and have a local contact or something there about there of to talk to if you run into issues with control because the nation you are in might or might not be using the same system that you are use to and thus you might end up in worse condition then you’d other wise be in.

Q4. Diabetes Art Day. What did you learn for #DArtDay?
I have no idea what this question is even talking about its the first time I even heard of it

3 cups sliced fresh strawberries, or raspberries
1 tsp sugar
1 15 ounce pa skim ricotta cheese
1 tbsp grand marnier
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp grated orange peel

In a medium bowl, mix together the berries and the sugar. Set aside.

With an electric beater, beat together the remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.

Divide berries among dessert dishes. Top each serving with a portion of the cream.

Exchanges:
Fruit Exchange = 1
Medium-Fat Meat Exchange = 1

Serving size: 1/2 cup

This is one of my favorite sketches from Air Farce that they ever did … ::grins:: even got Norman laughing along with it

Topic’s: Diabetes life, diaversary, music

Q1. Living with diabetes-has shaped you into the person you are today?
No its not what has shaped me into who I am today. Maybe if I’d had it since a child it might have helped do that, but getting told I have it as an adult well lots of things happened to me before getting told I was D that have gone into shaping who I am. D just happens to be one of the current factors that I have to live with.

Q2. What do you do on your diaversary – if anything? Do you celebrate?
I know the month I was told I was diabetic, and I know it was something like 20 days after I was told I had PCOS and I know it was after Christmas that I was told, but the exact date I have no idea. I do not celebrate it because I see no reason to do so, the only day I do celebrate to any degree is the day I had my hysterectomy for some reason its one of those days that I remember very very well

Q3. If you were asked to dedicate a song to diabetes what would it be? and why?
I’ve been trying to think of a song or two for the past hour and change and I still can’t come up with one or more that would sum it up to any degree in my own mind. But if there are songs that sum it up in general day to day deals and what have you they would be as follows…
Tubthumping by Chumbawamba
will add to this as my brain can think of them, but atm this is the only one that comes to mind – lol

Q4. Three words that describes your life with diabetes….
There are many words that come to mind, most of them are more then three words, some of them are as follows…
*I Will Survive
*Diabetes Doesn’t Have Me

Q5. Do you think there will be a cure for diabetes in this life time?
I’m not holding my breath since D is such a complicated condition to start with. But I am hoping that there will at least be some more progress made towards treatment and better control, if not actually being able to reverse the issue in part of whole. I think they will find a cure or close enough there of for T1s before anything for a T2 is found though.

Well I found out why I was really out of it when I started to drive home from my ex’s place of work with N I’d only taken in 80 cals for breakfast. I do NOT know what was I thinking only taking in that amount of calories for breakfast, I know it wasn’t that high in cals yes, but I didn’t think it was that little (I though at least 100 cals). If we’d had PB in the house I would have had that with the carrots or at least has it on bread to give my body a better carb load to work from, but there is no PB in the house and other sources of protein such as cheese or milk are not an option less I plan on spending a good hour or two after eating them stuck at home near the head.

Why was I in such a hurry? Why didn’t I take the time to eat more or make up something more then grabbing carrots and balsamic vinegar for a breakfast? Simple answer is that and I was running late to get over to see my ex to work on a project that he’d contracted me on to do for him. I simply fell into very old habits that I got into years ago of being able to grab light and go without an issue. Never really a good idea in general, but then again many of us get into that bad habit and end up paying for it sooner or later.

For me its an old habit of grabbing veggies on the go and running out the door without a second thought that lead me to doing what I did yesterday. When in University and College its something I use to do a lot of, since I almost always was waking up just in time to jump in the car and get to class. Not great for me in general as I’d end up downing a liter of pop later on in the day more times then naught (never coffee because at that point in time I still wasn’t able to tolerate the stuff). Then again I’d also down a glass of milk with the veggies (something which I can’t do now without issues) so I am sure that milk helped things in its own way since a glass is about 110 calories.

Anyhow, Norman and I drove up to see my ex at his place of employment and see if we might be able to help him with his problem that he was dealing with. He’s a windows tech and isn’t use to dealing with Mac as I am, which is why he called to have me come up and see what I might be able to show him. It took a lot longer then I though it would, as a result I didn’t grab lunch as I thought I would thus when it came time to leave my body was starting to slow and shut down. I still thought I was good to go, just a minor unwell feeling.

I new I needed to get food into me, I just didn’t know how bad I really needed to get it into me. We first stopped off at Wendy’s but they had nothing which i could eat without issues so we had to find something else. Well looking to get back onto Vic Park n trying to find a place to stop into to get real food I started to become disorientated and my concentration started to go out the window.

Norman say that something was up and had me turn into a gas station that I was about to pass. We stopped and he was asking me questions, simple ones that I should have been able to answer, but all I could say was “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know” and every time I said it to a question I got more upset each time. I new something was wrong with me but I was having trouble thinking. He finally got me to give him what I was looking for and I got enough brain power to ask him to get me my meter to test when he came back.

When I tested I was at mmol 10, not a good number but not unnatural for me either. Yet from how I was acting I know that something else had to be wrong for that number wouldn’t cause me to be feeling or acting as I was acting, never mind the fuzzy brain that I was going though. So I sent him to grab a can or bottle of what ever pop he wished to get that I could also drink, and waited for him to get back, but in the mean time I also popped a gluco tab. By time he got my back brain was starting to clime out the fog it had been in, but it was still there. The pop helped to clear it more but I knew I needed to get something into me asap that pop was not the answer, just as fast solution to tide me over till I could get what I needed.

So we started back out from the gas station, but we couldn’t get to where we where needing go so so I ended up going up the street we needed to go down, but it served a good idea as we came across a Subway so popped in and got both of us something to eat. After having food and about 8 oz of pop inside of me the fog had cleared from my mind and I was feeling better, not 100% but I could think without feeling slow or what have you. Tested and I shocked myself, I could have sworn I would be higher then I had tested at the gas station, but that wasn’t the case I was way lower. I was sitting at mmol 6.9 and that was without taking insulin or anything just having had pop, a gluco tab and a flatbread sub from subway.

So to me that meant that my numbers really where low and that my body had been trying to dump glucose into the system to keep it going, that scares the world out of me that my numbers might have climbed ever higher but having had the reality of the matter actually being low. I do not know how to explain it because I do not understand it myself. I was reading high, yet after eating and drinking high carb items I read actually as low.

Right now I’m paying for yesterday – I’ve got a migraine going on and my levels are running low. This is the first time I’ve noticed a big issue with being diabetic for myself, it has scared me to degrees at how close I might have come to having an issue while driving. Yet I couldn’t have asked Norman to drive because he himself had a mini seizure while I was driving home and was out of it, for him to have driven would have been way worse since for him he was fine one moment and the next out of it (guess that is why by Ontario law you have to be 2 years free before a doc will sign off for you to be able to drive – good law).

I am thankful that I had the gluco tabs on me and that Norman was able to get me to listen to him and pull over get me something to get my brain working again and that having to turn off where I did allowed me to find a place to get food that I could eat and would help me. I know now that I can’t go like I use to years ago, that I do need to eat right and on as close to a schedule as I can make because not to do so could cause more harm has I taken the time to do as I should.

Well take care everyone,
Nyx

This is one of those treats that is not mean as an every day deal and is mean as something you might have once or twice a year or variation there of. I know that I love to have Baklava every chance I get to have it, but I also know that its not very diabetic friendly in general to have but that doesn’t stop me from having it here and there on occasion.

The following is a recipe for making Baklava for that special occasion.
Enjoy!

Type: Occasional Dessert / Treat
95 Minutes to Prepare and Cook

Ingredients
1 pound frozen phyllo sheets
1 cup melted butter
2 cups finely chopped almonds
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Thaw phyllo pastry and separate sheets according to package directions. Keep pastry not being used covered with clean damp dish towel to keep it from drying out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.

Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep.

Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.

Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers.

This freezes well.

Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Number of Servings: 18

Nutritional Information:
Calories 312.3
Total Fat 17.9 g
Saturated Fat 7.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.3 g
Cholesterol 29.8 mg
Sodium 124.2 mg
Potassium 107.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.0 g
Dietary Fiber 1.8 g
Sugars 21.0 g
Protein 4.2 g
Vitamin A 8.4 %
Vitamin B-12 0.3 %
Vitamin B-6 1.3 %
Vitamin C 1.9 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 15.9 %
Calcium 3.4 %
Copper 7.5 %
Folate 6.5 %
Iron 7.5 %
Magnesium 8.3 %
Manganese 20.3 %
Niacin 7.3 %
Pantothenic Acid 1.4 %
Phosphorus 7.2 %
Riboflavin 10.7 %
Selenium 9.5 %
Thiamin 10.9 %
Zinc 3.4 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Topic (s): Endocrinologist and CDE’s (Certified Diabetes Educator)

Q1. What are the 3 qualities you look for in a Endo/CDE/PCP?
I actually don’t have any qualities that I looked for in my Endo, he was assigned to me by my GP because he was also my mom’s Endo and was thought to be the best person to deal with me to start with since he was already treating my mom.

Q2. Have you ever had to fire your Endo/CDE/PCP? If so, why?
No, I’ve never had to do anything of this nature before and I hope I never had to for that matter

Q3. How much time do you spend w/ your diabetes care team? Do you think it’s enough?
I don’t have a diabetic team, I think that is an American thing it doesn’t exist here in Canada that I know of in general. I have an Endo that is it, he is the only person who cares for me with my diabetes, my GP gets his reports but leaves all things regarding D between him and me when it comes to treatment in general. As to how long appointments last, about 30 min or so depending on what needs going over.

Q4. How often do you discuss adjustments with your Endo/CDE?
I don’t really do so because I’ve not had the need to do so. But I’ve always told him anything I’ve dun and why I did it, he either agrees that I did right or corrects me for what I did wrong.

Q4.5. Insulin Dependents, Are you reluctant to make insulin changes per CDE suggestion?
I know my endo has my best interests at heart, he’s also got more years experience dealing with others with D so I trust his recommendations for any change that needs to take place for my care.