Saturday, April 18, 2015

The other day I realized on this blog, which started out as enjoying eating out with my family and traveling, that I really don't mention the diabetes factor in our lives.  I'm the one with Type 1 diabetes, diagnosed at 22 years old, just 3 months after Jackie and I's wedding in 1993.  Since then, I've been on an insulin pump now 19 years and in the last 5 years, I've had a blood sugar sensor off and on (the technology changes, thankfully, and they're dang really expensive).

I've been using the Dexcom sensor pretty regularly.  I blogged about it in 2012, it's hard to believe it was that long ago.  I use the sensor most especially during long bike rides and the half marathons (Jackie and I entered the Oklahoma City half marathon next Sunday...we haven't run since the Little Rock Half in March, yikes!).  It helps me to know where my blood sugar is heading and it helps to prepare for what's ahead.

The reason I'm bringing all this up is Jackie had a state rotary convention in Little Rock and we killed some time at the Argenta Art Tour in North Little Rock.  It's very similar to my fabulous sister-in-law's Picnic-n on Front Street in Wynne.  She's president of the Cross County Arts Council and came up with the idea to bring people to downtown Wynne for food, wine and art.  It's been a real success and this year's event is next weekend and it is turning out to be the biggest one.  GO KARA!

Anyway, at the Argenta Art Tour, we toured around, had a glass of wine and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  We were headed to the Arkansas Travelers Minor League baseball game at 7.  When you have a delayed meal, the Dexcom sensor was getting mad and alarming me of the low blood sugar.  While standing in line for the baseball game, the line was a hundred people long, we had to wait another 30 minutes to get in the ballpark to eat dinner (yes, I know...why would you look forward to eating at a ballpark with all the good North Little Rock restaurants?  Well, I love BBQ nachos so it was worth the wait).  Jackie asked me why I didn't have something to eat?  99% of the time I do but I wanted to lighten my purse for all the walking and took out my peanut m&m's. So with the insulin pump turned off, beeping every 10 minutes and my sensor alarm going off, I sounded like some kind of weapon alarming...hahaha. Then Jackie gives me his usual lecture about taking care of myself and always keeping food on me.  Needless to say, it was all good.  The nachos kicked in while he was in the corn dog line.

I think I may have to share some diabetes stuff from time to time on here to keep it real.  I think I've always just moved along like it's no big deal, which it really isn't, but the older I get the idea of mortality kicks in.  I've taught Jackie and Chloe both how to prick my finger if I'm passed out to check my blood sugar.  They know if I'm angry or if I can't talk, to ask me what my blood sugar is and the new addition to our family Buddy, the standard poodle, has already shown that he knows if my blood sugar is too low.

I have checked with Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis about a trial I heard of that can give children of Type 1 diabetics injections to keep them from becoming diabetics later in life.  If we could do anything to prevent this disease from passing down to her, we would.  As my first endocrinologist in Springdale, Ark., told me in 1994, "if you're going to pick a disease, this is the one to have".  I've been thankful that it is manageable when so many other things are not.  But dang it, we all have to listen to the alarms when I'm low in public and wonder if a bomb is going to go off...:)

Tandem, my insulin pump company, has added the Dexom 4G to its pump and it's in FDA-land trying to be approved as a single unit instead of two...

http://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/tandem-diabetes-pumpcgm-combo-news-plus-an-inside-
look

And there's another article about a pump, sensor and glucagon that really mimics a pancreas:

http://insulinnation.com/devices/pumps-cgm/tandem-scores-big-with-artificial-pancreas-research/

Our lovely chickens

Kara had a dinner party for our friend (and fellow insulin pump user) Joy and her new family.  Joy was adopted at birth and
recently found her birth family.  It's a small world, her uncle lives in Wynne.  How crazy is that?  In the middle there is her
paternal grandfather Opa teaching us all how to dance.

Marcel Hanzlik (Joy's uncle that's lived across town from her her whole life), Yvonne (her aunt who lives in Hot Springs),
JOY, cousin Kelsey, Opa (her grandfather), Emily and her aunt Susan

Joy with grandfather Opa

Last Wednesday, August came over to show Chloe his baseball
uniform.  Can you tell how fired up he is???  Dang blurry phone camera

Chloe dogsat for the Bradshaw's next door.  We had some training in there too.  Here's Chloe teaching Lucy the sit.
Chloe also taught them to not bite, COME find me game, no couch unless they're invited and we got them 99% house trained.
Go Chloe!

Happy Easter 2015, Birdeye

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter!  We had a great time at Wynne Presbyterian Church last Sunday.  Jackie and Chloe helped me get the house ready Saturday, after I worked at the clinic, then went on a bike ride while Chloe babysat.  We set up for 28 in about 4 hours which wasn't bad at all.  And Kara, Julie and Jeanie helped me get 90% of the dishes done so clean up was under an hour when they left.  Thanks ladies!

Chloe and I planned several games this year.  In years past, we've had an egg toss, egg hunt and last year a baseball game.  This year we added Jimmy Fallon games of pictonary and his Egg Russian Roulette.  All of it was so much fun...one hitch this year, I neglected to get a group photo!  But I will try harder next year.

Chloe and I dyed about 60 eggs Saturday for the Jimmy Fallon Egg Russian Roulette Game
that turned out to be a HIT

Chloe's so sweet with her young cousins...here's Reece Bradshaw in the church courtyard on the egg hunt

August, Reece and Chloe

Lleft to right, back row, Harmon, Jeanie, Martin, Kara, Polly, Jackie then Bob Hardin, August, Stella,
Kara, Whit, me and Chloe in front of our church

August had so many eggs he was putting the overflow in his pockets...LOL!

Lunch was a fun time, we had about 28 over...unfortunately I didn't get a group shot this year but we will next time!
This is Whit and Trevor and Austin Boone

Chloe, Aunt Meredith, Uncle Fred and Tyler

Aunt Carolyn, Matt and Mick

The boys table was rowdy...Austin, Trevor and Eli Boone, August and onry Whit 

Jim Shaver, Beth Huff, Jimmie Barham and Stella holding baby William Huff

It was the twins 10th birthday on Easter Sunday so dessert was a birthday cake

It's funny that you can see Chloe's portrait behind the kids on the wall.  I love it and thanks to Victoria Collier's talent :)

Martin, Kara, Jim Shaver, Bonnie Sue Huff and his back to us is Wes Shaver

First Easter game was Jimmy Fallon's Pictonary...Here's Stella....on the TV was our Go Pro recordings of Spring Break

Shaver helping mom Beth with drawing...

Eli on Pictonary

Stella holding William and Shaver Huff joining in the help

2nd Easter game was the Fallon game, Egg Russian Roulette....here's Eli in the red facing Austin...the games works
with one dozen eggs, 8 are hard boiled and 4 are raw.  You don't know which one is cooked or raw...you pick one
(with no "put backs") and crush it on your head.  If you pick a raw egg, you're out...it turned out to be the game of the YEAR!

Chloe explaining the rules....Stella cracks me up....

The kids played this for about 30 minutes...I had actually planned to play against Martin to get adults involved but the
kids 

I think August had the BEST TIME at the egg roulette....when he picked a cooked egg, he pounded it on his head like 20 times

3rd Easter game was a baseball game...here's Eli pitching to Austin

Martin, Matt and Jackie helped fill the catching and outfield

August wanted to show us all how fast he can run....he was lightning fast!

Chloe photo bombed Jimmy and Beth Huff in every one of their photos!  Beth said she didn't care
but I'm not sure she just wasn't being nice....:)

Homemade Pizza, Birdeye

Friday, March 27, 2015

FINALLY I've found a pizza dough recipe worth the effort.  I'm excited since I found it in one of my favorite Italian cookbooks by Lidia Bastianich.

The recipe is EASY plus it's freezable and I know most cooks own a cast iron skillet, it's a great way to utilize it.  I make Chloe a deep dish in my mini cast iron skillet and Jackie and I regular crust in the large pan.

Pizza Dough (I triple her recipe so I can freeze two doughs.  Thaw at room temperature an hour or so or microwave in 30 second increments)

1 package active yeast
1 C. warm water (120 degrees)
3 C. all purpose flour, and more as needed
1-1/2 t. salt
Olive oil (don't skip this, it adds flavor)

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a medium bowl and let stand until dissolved (about 7-10 minutes).

Toss the flour and salt together and stir into the dissolved yeast with a wooden spoon or your fingers until it's stiff.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and kneed 5-10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking, until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat all sides with oil and cover with a damp cloth.  Set the bowl in a warm draft-free spot until it doubles in volume, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch down the dough and, if necessary, divide into the number of portions called for in the recipe.  Place the dough balls on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly against the dough.  Refrigerate until the dough is roughly doubled in bulk.  This can take from 12 to 24 hours.  Punch down the dough.

Here's where I take over...I roll it out and divide into two pieces, a smaller one for Chloe that we call "deep dish" and when in my desired thickness put into cast iron skillet.  Then prick dough with a fork and cook 12 minutes at 425 degrees.  Then top with tomato sauce (Jeanie's recipe is the best:  1 16 oz. can tomato sauce (I love a lotta sauce, lol) 1 t. italian seasoning and 1/2 t. garlic powder, microwave 1-1/2 minutes covered and stir), then add cheese and put pepperoni or other toppings on top of the cheese.  Bake an additional 12 minutes at 425.

Delicious!

The cast iron skillet crisps the crust beautifully

Winnie Bob's daffodils have been coming on thankfully

Chloe set up two jumps up with crates...look at Essie Mae in the background wanting to pounce a chicken in the raised
bed...She's crazy!  And it's time to get the beds ready for spring planting...lettuces, spinach etc...I won't plant tomatoes
and peppers until May 1.

Buddy's got the Go Pro on here but he's listening to Chloe about to start the homemade jumps.  Gumball is hilarious....

Our picnic table works as the "table" for Chloe's homemade agility course

My Favorite Children's Books, Birdeye

Monday, April 6, 2015

When Chloe was about a year old, Jackie and I started reading three books to her every night.  Since then, she's been a good reader, eager for new books (as she was so excited the Easter Bunny put a book in her basket this year).  She was 2nd overall in her 7th grade class with the most words read.  I took a photo of some of my favorite beginner and intermediate books to share.  There are many more but this is my stash I keep on hand for young cousins and friends' birthdays.

"Are you my mother?" was given to us by Jeanie's sister Jackie Boyd (it's a really neat story about a bird
that falls out of his nest)
J.Harmon purchased "Epossumundas" at "That Bookstore" in Blytheville (there are several in the series about
a possum that gets into trouble, it's a wonderful read)
"Make way for ducklings" Jeanie gave Chloe way back (a classic story of a mother and her ducklings living
in a city)
"Bad Kitty" one of the first chapter books Chloe read (hilarious chapter books that have many in its series)
"Why is Blue Dog Blue" we bought Chloe in New Orleans way back (a wonderful book about colors by
Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue)

April Fool's Day and Track

Monday, April 6, 2015

You may not know this about me but I love an April Fool's Day joke.  I started pulling pranks way before we had Chloe.  Some of my favorites was calling in sick and then arriving 30 minutes late, calling and hanging up on Jeanie at the vet clinic, when I arrived she had the phones out of the sockets trying to find out what the deal was and most recently, I called into KWYN's 12:30 pm Tradio Show to advertise Martin's Australian Shepherd, Aussie, as a give away using his cell number (he got about 10 phone calls, lol), last year I moved his truck and this year I put a FOR SALE PRICE REDUCED sign in his yard (plus a for sale sign in my yard and one in Beth and Stan's next door).  He said he and Kara both got multiple texts all evening wondering why they were selling their house.  Then on Easter Sunday, a felon put this Tom Cotton for Senate bumper sticker on my car after Easter games.  (You all know what a dork Tom Cotton is).  We'll see about next year....I'm looking forward to it!

Chloe's got a track meet in two weeks at Paragould.  She's down because she wasn't first in the mile last meet but to have such improvement is really something to be fired up about (she made an almost 2 minute improvement which is Olympic improvement)  I hope she'll run for the high school track team, we'll see!

It was raining....Martin and Kara got many texts about their house being for sale....lol!

I also but one in Beth and Stan's yard and my yard...we are not leaving but it was sure fun putting the signs out with
cars going by....I was cracking up!

And then Easter afternoon some Jack-$%# put a Tom Cotton for Senate sticker on my car, it has been and always
will be sticker-less.....I offered up an Easter Ham Bone to the felon that confesses....

It's official...She's 3 inches taller and wears an 8-1/2 shoe...

Chloe did an 8 minute mile which was over a minute and half faster than last year!

Spring Break 2015

Friday, March 27, 2015

We had a great week in Crested Butte with Jackie's cousin Counts Louise and her sweet family.  We shared a condo last Saturday through Thursday.  We had some great skiing, food and fun times in Crested Butte.  It's such a quaint town in beautiful southern Colorado. We plan to hit the slopes in 2016 for more fun with the cousins!

Allie, Chloe and Counts Elzabeth

Crested Butte was winding down this week with our late Spring Break, there were barely any lines on any of the lifts, yay!

Getting skis on

Chloe had private lessons with Counts Elizabeth and Allie.  They had CJ as their instructor, he was excellent!

Group Photo...Stephen Junior, Allie, Chloe and Counts Elizabeth

Right off the Red Lady ski lift....

Chloe's selfie at our first lunch place in Crested Butte

Downtown Crested Butte is so cool!

Counts Elizabeth, Allie, CJ the instructor and Chloe 

Counts Louise, Jackie and I had lunch at the infamous Ulley's cabin up on the mountain. 

Right off the Red Lady