Several times a year, our social calendar involves an event in which each of us is expected to contribute food to be shared by all. In some parts of the US, this is known as a "covered dish dinner"; in ours, it's called "pot luck". Depending on the event and the organizer, there will be greater and lesser degrees of coordination regarding courses, types of dishes, and quantities to be contributed -- let's face it, unless it's a same-dish/recipe cook-off, even folk without diabetes would rather have more selection than five different pans of mac 'n' cheese, two different types of fried chicken, and twenty apple pies. When you add diabetes, food allergies, and other dietary restrictions into the mix, planning for success can get a bit rough.

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I know that flexible spending accounts are HUGE! but 2010 will be the first year I've signed up for the benefit. I know, right? But frankly we've never had the kind of wiggle room in our budget to allow for more money to be taken out of our paychecks and then wait to get reimbursed after we spend money. Or however it works. I never paid attention because I knew I couldn't do it.

OK, I'm digressing a little. So in November my company held a mandatory benefits meeting for all employees so we could talk about changes for 2010. I typically don't change anything so I find myself tuning a lot of that information out. Until I heard someone talking about a "preloaded debit card for FSA."

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jyyne_2000

I was busy. I thought it'd be here sooner. I just didn't take the time to think about it. The insurance company shouldn't be so slow. I have too many other things to handle. I'm still new to pumping so I haven't realized the increased needs. I couldn't really judge how much was left. (READ MORE)

Nicole wrote an entry about blood sugar logging that struck a real chord with me.

I remember using old-school blood sugar meters that took a few minutes to provide a result and didn't have a memory, so my mother would diligently write the result down in my tattered, bloodstained logbook. For the first few months - maybe years - my logbook was a steady record of how my numbers were faring. (READ MORE)

Just recently I had a talk with myself. I told myself that being a diabetic is a/my full-time job. That is how I choose to look at it sometimes. (READ MORE)

Olivia's been at camp for five days now. It's always so much quieter around here when she's gone, but it's amazing how much I miss having her around. Oh, sure, the babies are still here, laughing and playing and crying and generally being their cute little selves, but without "LaLa" here, the noise level has dropped dramatically.

The phone doesn't ring, the computer only gets used once in a while. The Disney Channel does not get turned on at all. (No Hannah Montana! Whoohoo!) It's nice, but it's weird. She's always here.

I keep waking by her room and thinking "Gosh, what is she DOING in there?" And then I remember, duh, she isn't here. She's at camp. Having fun. Being a teen-ager. Going to the dances with the Joslin boys. Playing Cities and having backwards day and all sorts of other goofy things they do at camp. And while I miss her intensely, I wouldn't change that for the world. (READ MORE)