Vacations, Bad Luck, & Emergency Baking

It's weeks like these that make me feel like Diabetes isn't going to kill me. Stress on the other hand...

I apologize for the impromptu hiatus in blog posts. I'm a little disappointed for not making a goal I set to post regularly. Honestly, I'm burnt out on responsibilities at the moment. I needed to take a real break from everything for a little while, which was amazing while that feeling lasted (and unfortunately it was extremely short lived).

So what have I been doing? I took the week after Christmas to sleep out the exhaustion from my first semester and the crazy holiday/semester-end celebrations. There was quite a bit of driving around. I think I spent 14 hrs in a car over a 48 hr span of time. Every day that week began with many hours of sleep and a few enjoyable hours on the couch watching bad television (because really, it's the only kind).

Unluckily, my laptop crashed the day after I returned to New Jersey after only functioning for about 45 minutes. It was a serious blue screen of death followed by a "I won't boot regardless of how nicely you ask me" tantrum. Two system restores, many phone calls to HP tech repair, and 48 hours later my laptop was mildly functional. I just recently (as in the last few hours) installed Windows 7 and restored its functionality (read: it's no longer a very expensive paperweight).

This past Saturday, I managed to have my cell phone and One Touch Ultralink meter lost (and probably now stolen) in a public restroom. That lead to a very unpleasant 24 hours where I was relying very heavily on my continuous glucose monitor (EGGY TO THE RESCUE!). Needless to say, I have had multiple moments of undue stress, unclear thinking, and reckless panic. I still haven't slept to make up for all of it.

It proved to be a fairly (but not insanely) expensive mistake. I bought a new phone from AT&T and a One Touch mini from my favorite pharmacy. To try and unwind a little, I googled a quick recipe for my favorite (and mildly famous) chocolate chip cheesecake cookies since all my recipes are hiding in the backed up files on my external hard drive somewhere. Whipped up a batch as speedily as I could. I'm all sorts of discombobulated still. But indeed a delivered pizza and baked goods do ease large quantities of stress, in case you thought otherwise.

I'm sure you'll see upcoming posts that were intended for well before their actual post date. I hope they haven't hit their expiration dates.

When There Are No Words...

I'm too busy to write so instead I'm posting my baking pictures from the week. I think they all tasted delicious!

The unfortunately burnt DSMA cookie... One of these days...

Blue Circle Sugar Cookies for World Diabetes Day!

Three Different Blue Circles for Three Different Reasons (Exercise, Eating, and Advocacy!)

Pumpking Pie for the DOC's Shining Blue Star: Cherise!

Updates?

Things are crazy. As the usual. So bullet point time!

• In case you missed it (because I forgot to mention it), I did a guest post for Kim (textingmypancreas.com). I think that the post was awesome [the title says it all: "I Get By With (Or Without Real Life) Help From My Friends"], and if you're not already reading about her awesome dog, Billy Corgin, you're seriously missing out!
  
  
• When I was volunteering at the UNite for a Healthy Future event in NYC, some awesome peeps from HealthiNation.com were shooting a video about the one and only d-community superstar Manny Hernandez (aka the creator of TuDiabetes and founder of the Diabetes Hands Foundation. They asked to interview me (I still don't understand why but anyways). Apparently, they really liked what I had to say because they used some (or lots) of it. Check it out here!
  
  
• I have approximately 3 different d-meet ups scheduled at 2 week intervals with super awesome diabetes rockstarsss (more about that after they happen...)!
  
  
• I almost had a no hitter yesterday minus the crazy coming down from a bad infusion set over night (but we won't talk about how I didn't really eat dinner and drove 2 hrs [yes, I'm okay and nothing eventful happened]).
  
  
• On Friday afternoon, an economics major interviewed me for about 1.5 hrs about chronic conditions for a really cool design project. He was originally going to work towards a focus on sickle cell anemia and/or cancer patients, but I think I may have changed his mind a smidge (Listen, I'm not saying that Diabetes is cooler. I just think the patients might be a little more awesome).
  
  
• I have another cell biology exam in 2 weeks and I'm trying really hard to bust my butt with the studying (didn't do as well as I needed to on the 1st one), which inadvertently means...
  
  
• I've become hooked on diet coke again, which advertently means...
  
  
• I'm trying to get back to drinking more water, taking my vitamins (every day, ugh), and eating healthier. Sweatbetes? Hopefully I'll get to work on that soon.
  
  
• I think there may or may not be a DSMA blog carnival in the near future if I can manage to sneak more time away later...
  
  
• This weekend's sugar-filled bake fest with my college friends ended with Apple Crisp (x3), Apple Pies (x3), Apple Crumb Pies (x2), Apple Cider Doughnuts (2 batches), and Apple Pie Cookies (yes, we went to an orchard. yes, the apples that we ACTUALLY baked came from a grocery store). I picked up pumpkins as well for some well needed pumpkin pie and pumpkin oatmeal cookie things. Definitely for a later time... Apparently requests for my baked goods are now coming in from ALL OVER THE GLOBE. Must make friends with the mailman...

Back to work for me now!