Not in any particular order.
1. Diabetes is caused by poor diet and fitness. No, Diabetes is not caused by sugar. There are a few different reasons why a person can develop diabetes, and while bad eating habits and being sedentary make some of it worse, it does not cause it to happen. Type 1 is caused when the pancreas stops producing insulin. Type 2 is a genetic disease caused by a combination of insulin resistance, low pancreatic activity, and faulty liver function, not always all three, in any combination of the above. Type 1.5 is autoimmune and is, to keep it short, slow onset Type 1. Gestational Diabetes is diabetes that develops during a pregnancy. And traumatic injury or disease to the pancreas can cause diabetes. But Twinkies and Coke do not cause it.
2. Diabetes can be cured. This one is my pet peeve so let me be completely clear.
THERE IS NO CURE FOR DIABETES
No matter what kind you have, at this point in time there is no cure. Some, I repeat SOME Type 2's can go into a remission like state where, through a combination of lifestyle changes and the good fortune of their diabetes being less severe than others, their blood glucose numbers are in a normal range. This is not the same thing as being cured. You can't cure genes.
3. Type 1 or 2 Diabetes is worse than the other type. No. Disease doesn't work that way. There is no better or worse kind of diabetes. It all sucks. Having a disease that affects how you need to life your life, affects every organ in your body, affects the length of your life, and much more, is not a pissing contest. None of this is a competition. That's like saying one form of cancer is better or worse than another.
4. Type 1 is something children get. Incorrect. Type 1 Diabetes, an autoimmune disease that happens when the immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas and kills off most or all insulin production in the body, can happen to any person at any age. Nobody knows why it happens, nobody can stop it, and it's not predictable.
5. Type 2 is something old people get. Incorrect. Type 2 Diabetes, a genetic disease, happens when the body becomes resistant to it's own insulin, the liver dumps glucose into the blood stream incorrectly, and the pancreas may or may not make insulin in the proper amounts. It can happen to anybody with the gene, at any age, nobody can stop it, and it's not predictable.
6. Diabetes isn't that bad, you just have to eat right. Wrong. Diabetes causes more deaths per year than breast cancer and AIDS combined. There are complications from diabetes, such as heart disease and stroke, that are deadly.
7. Diabetics can't eat sugar, or can't eat carbs. That is absolutely not true. The human body requires carbohydrates. Not eating carbs will cause as much damage and problems to a diabetic as eating too much. Telling a diabetic that they shouldn't eat that is just an asshole kind of thing to say, unless you're talking to your child who you're trying to teach. A diabetic needs to count how many carbs they're consuming and balance it out with the right amount of insulin or medication. They got this; back off.
8. Diabetics get sick more easily. No, we really don't. However, when we do get sick, the immune response in our bodies makes our blood glucose numbers jump around like kangaroos and more difficult to control. So sometimes when we get sick, it's kind of a big deal.
9. Fruit is healthy and natural so a diabetic can eat it. Bonk! SO not true! Fruit is sweet, and full of carbohydrates, and needs to be properly accounted for when we count those carbs.
10. There are lots of products that can cure diabetes. OMG I hate those things and the people who push them. I'll reiterate that diabetes does not have a cure. Taking some product you read about online, saw in a commercial, had pretty packaging on the store shelf, or somebody tried to sell you, not only won't cure diabetes but may cause it's own set of problems. Just because something is organic and made of all natural products doesn't mean there aren't side effects, it doesn't mean it's good for you, and it sure as shit doesn't mean it's going to cure you of an incurable disease. If you want to try something do this -- print up a list of all it's ingredients and take that to your pharmacist. Talk to the pharmacist about what medications you're currently taking and if any of the ingredients listed will interfere with them. If you get a green light, go ahead and throw your money at it. It's your body. But don't say nobody warned you.
11. Diabetics need insulin. To be perfectly precise, every person needs insulin to live. Some people don't make enough on their own and need to outsource production, is all. But a diagnosis of diabetes doesn't mean that you will automatically go on insulin. Many Type 2 diabetics control just fine with oral medication combined with diet and fitness.
12. Diabetes only affects rich countries. Not correct. Diabetes occurs in every demographic, in every country, on every continent, in every color, in every religion, in every income bracket, in every age. It doesn't discriminate.
13. Diabetes care isn't costly. Oh, how I wish! Some diabetes medications that have been around a while are somewhat affordable, but no, diabetes is incredibly expensive. Between the doctor visits every three months, the blood tests they perform, the self testing multiple times a day, the medications, the complications.....no, none of it is inexpensive.
14. Diabetics use their diabetes as an excuse to get out of things. Well, I can't say that 100% of diabetics would never, ever do such a thing, but it's pretty likely that it's not true and you're just not understanding what's happening. A diabetic needs to test their blood glucose regularly, they need to eat regularly, they need to take their medications regularly, and if their blood glucose levels get too high or low they need to treat that immediately. So if they need to take a break from class or from their job or from whatever it is that they're doing to make sure things are okay, then they really do need to do that. Would you rather they just passed out in front of you to prove they weren't making it up?
Oh, there are a lot of things that people don't know about diabetes. Heck, there are a lot of diabetics who don't understand it themselves and have misconceptions! There've been studies! But you know, if you have questions please feel free to ask them. Oh, and here's a study on how even many diabetics are lacking in education and understanding of what's happening to their own bodies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2660470/
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
So What Is Diabetes?
I will start by saying that I am a diabetic. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in 2000 when I was pregnant with my son, at age 26. At 30 years old I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I started out on oral medications combined with diet and exercise but eventually went to insulin. I am now on an insulin pump. I have joined a diabetes group on Facebook and was really stunned by reports of the misconceptions and lack of understanding by families and friends of diabetics everywhere. I totally get that when something doesn't affect you personally, or somebody that you love, that you don't study up on it. When it's somebody you know, though, don't you usually learn a bit more about it? So I started a Facebook post this morning asking a few basic questions about diabetes from all the folks on my friends list. The post hasn't been up there very long and already there are some of the stereotypical misconceptions up there as answers. So in this blog post I'm going to explain what diabetes is, what some of the different types are, and how they're generally treated.
To begin, diabetes in general describes an inability of the person's body to correctly produce and/or use the hormone insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by beta cells that are on your pancreas. Your body uses insulin to move glucose (sugar) from food from the bloodstream into cells throughout the body where it is then used for energy.
Type 1 Diabetes, often called Juvenile Diabetes, is an Autoimmune Disease. What this means is that at some point, the body decided that those beta cells I mentioned weren't supposed to be there and the immune system attacks and kills off some or all of them. This can happen at varying speeds. Nobody knows why this happens. This can happen at ANY age. You can develop Type 1 Diabetes at 2, at 12, at 22, 52, etc.....it is not solely something that happens to children. With those beta cells gone, the body does not produce any insulin on its own and so the person MUST give themselves insulin in order to survive. No diet, no exercise, no pills will help.
Type 2 Diabetes used to be referred to as Adult Onset Diabetes. In my grandmother's generation it often didn't present itself until a person reached retirement age. Today we are seeing it in people of all ages, including children. Type 2 Diabetes is a Genetic Disease. A person can be in excellent health and eat a perfect diet and develop Type 2 Diabetes. A person can eat nothing but Twinkies and Chips, drink four liters of soda a day, never exercise, and be obese and still not develop Type 2 Diabetes; it's about genetics. The disease can present with no causal factors, it can just pop up at any time. However, it can also be brought out earlier through a lack of activity or by poor diet. It is not caused by diet or lack of activity, those are only factors that can cause it to present earlier than it MIGHT otherwise have developed. With Type 2 Diabetes a person's body becomes resistant to the insulin it produces, as well as possible changes in the amount of insulin production. Additionally, the liver, which produces it's own glucose (a survival mechanism meant to save a person who is starving) decides for unknown reasons to dump it's glucose into the blood stream when it doesn't really need to. Type 2 Diabetes has a lot of varying ways it can be treated. For about 13% of Type 2s it can be controlled through diet and exercise. The largest percentage of Type 2s control their Blood Glucose numbers with oral medications combined with diet and exercise. It is also controlled with insulin sometimes combined with the oral medications, sometimes not. Type 2 Diabetes is a progressive disease. A person can be perfectly controlled with only diet and exercise and still have to go on insulin at some point as their diabetes becomes progressively worse.
For some people, diabetes is developed due to traumatic injury to their pancreas, or due to other health conditions, all of which are beyond their control. Their treatment depends on how much, if any, insulin their bodies can produce.
Gestational Diabetes develops during a pregnancy and must be strictly controlled for the safety of the unborn baby. It often does not last beyond the pregnancy, if it's been properly controlled. However, having gestational diabetes is an indicator that Type 2 Diabetes could develop at some point.
LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) or Type 1.5 diabetes is a type of diabetes that often presents as Type 2 Diabetes and is very often misdiagnosed as such. It is an autoimmune disorder where the beta cells of the pancreas are being attacked by the immune system but at a slower rate and therefore mimicking Type 2 at early stages. When the attack on the beta cells progresses and insulin production ceases it presents more as Type 1. There is a test that can be administered to determine if a person has Type 2 or Type 1.5 if the person and their doctor feel it's called for.
So! Those are the different categories of Diabetes, how they are developed, how they are generally treated.
A diabetic does not need to avoid eating sugar. It's not even "sugar" that a diabetic is watching anyway, it's all carbohydrates. Even so, a diabetic does not need to avoid carbs and SHOULD NOT avoid them. Carbs are a main source of fuel for our bodies and not eating them at all will actually cause a diabetic's blood glucose numbers to rise, not fall, due to that pesky thing I mentioned earlier about the liver. It's called a Liver Dump, and if you eat zero carbs your liver will dump glucose into your blood to save you. This raises blood glucose numbers. So avoiding all carbs accomplishes nothing and makes it all worse.
There are two types of diabetic emergencies: Blood Glucose going too low, and BG going too high.
When a person's blood glucose drops too low, also called Insulin Shock, it is a life threatening emergency and needs to be treated immediately. The signs that this is happening are similar to being drunk and often mistaken for that. Lightheaded, confusion, slurred speech, dizzy, nausea, hot flashes, cold sweats, loss of motor control, among others, and if not treated, loss of consciousness. To treat insulin shock, if the person is still awake, give them regular soda to drink, orange juice is an old stand-by, frosting is excellent. Many diabetics carry Glucose Tablets or Gel with them to administer when this happens. Some also have a kit with an injection to help if they lose consciousness. If a person is not conscious, if you have frosting, smear some along their gums but be cautious not to block the airway. Call 911 for assistance.
When a person's blood glucose rises beyond levels that their body is accustomed to, this is also very dangerous and can lead to a Diabetic Coma. The person often becomes lethargic and sleepy and may lose consciousness. There is nothing you can do to help them other than to call 911, as they need medical attention.
If you do not know which is the problem, too low or too high, you treat as if it's too low. If they're too low and you treat it you may save their life. If they're too high and you treat it as a low you will not be significantly changing anything.
To begin, diabetes in general describes an inability of the person's body to correctly produce and/or use the hormone insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by beta cells that are on your pancreas. Your body uses insulin to move glucose (sugar) from food from the bloodstream into cells throughout the body where it is then used for energy.
Type 1 Diabetes, often called Juvenile Diabetes, is an Autoimmune Disease. What this means is that at some point, the body decided that those beta cells I mentioned weren't supposed to be there and the immune system attacks and kills off some or all of them. This can happen at varying speeds. Nobody knows why this happens. This can happen at ANY age. You can develop Type 1 Diabetes at 2, at 12, at 22, 52, etc.....it is not solely something that happens to children. With those beta cells gone, the body does not produce any insulin on its own and so the person MUST give themselves insulin in order to survive. No diet, no exercise, no pills will help.
Type 2 Diabetes used to be referred to as Adult Onset Diabetes. In my grandmother's generation it often didn't present itself until a person reached retirement age. Today we are seeing it in people of all ages, including children. Type 2 Diabetes is a Genetic Disease. A person can be in excellent health and eat a perfect diet and develop Type 2 Diabetes. A person can eat nothing but Twinkies and Chips, drink four liters of soda a day, never exercise, and be obese and still not develop Type 2 Diabetes; it's about genetics. The disease can present with no causal factors, it can just pop up at any time. However, it can also be brought out earlier through a lack of activity or by poor diet. It is not caused by diet or lack of activity, those are only factors that can cause it to present earlier than it MIGHT otherwise have developed. With Type 2 Diabetes a person's body becomes resistant to the insulin it produces, as well as possible changes in the amount of insulin production. Additionally, the liver, which produces it's own glucose (a survival mechanism meant to save a person who is starving) decides for unknown reasons to dump it's glucose into the blood stream when it doesn't really need to. Type 2 Diabetes has a lot of varying ways it can be treated. For about 13% of Type 2s it can be controlled through diet and exercise. The largest percentage of Type 2s control their Blood Glucose numbers with oral medications combined with diet and exercise. It is also controlled with insulin sometimes combined with the oral medications, sometimes not. Type 2 Diabetes is a progressive disease. A person can be perfectly controlled with only diet and exercise and still have to go on insulin at some point as their diabetes becomes progressively worse.
For some people, diabetes is developed due to traumatic injury to their pancreas, or due to other health conditions, all of which are beyond their control. Their treatment depends on how much, if any, insulin their bodies can produce.
Gestational Diabetes develops during a pregnancy and must be strictly controlled for the safety of the unborn baby. It often does not last beyond the pregnancy, if it's been properly controlled. However, having gestational diabetes is an indicator that Type 2 Diabetes could develop at some point.
LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) or Type 1.5 diabetes is a type of diabetes that often presents as Type 2 Diabetes and is very often misdiagnosed as such. It is an autoimmune disorder where the beta cells of the pancreas are being attacked by the immune system but at a slower rate and therefore mimicking Type 2 at early stages. When the attack on the beta cells progresses and insulin production ceases it presents more as Type 1. There is a test that can be administered to determine if a person has Type 2 or Type 1.5 if the person and their doctor feel it's called for.
So! Those are the different categories of Diabetes, how they are developed, how they are generally treated.
A diabetic does not need to avoid eating sugar. It's not even "sugar" that a diabetic is watching anyway, it's all carbohydrates. Even so, a diabetic does not need to avoid carbs and SHOULD NOT avoid them. Carbs are a main source of fuel for our bodies and not eating them at all will actually cause a diabetic's blood glucose numbers to rise, not fall, due to that pesky thing I mentioned earlier about the liver. It's called a Liver Dump, and if you eat zero carbs your liver will dump glucose into your blood to save you. This raises blood glucose numbers. So avoiding all carbs accomplishes nothing and makes it all worse.
There are two types of diabetic emergencies: Blood Glucose going too low, and BG going too high.
When a person's blood glucose drops too low, also called Insulin Shock, it is a life threatening emergency and needs to be treated immediately. The signs that this is happening are similar to being drunk and often mistaken for that. Lightheaded, confusion, slurred speech, dizzy, nausea, hot flashes, cold sweats, loss of motor control, among others, and if not treated, loss of consciousness. To treat insulin shock, if the person is still awake, give them regular soda to drink, orange juice is an old stand-by, frosting is excellent. Many diabetics carry Glucose Tablets or Gel with them to administer when this happens. Some also have a kit with an injection to help if they lose consciousness. If a person is not conscious, if you have frosting, smear some along their gums but be cautious not to block the airway. Call 911 for assistance.
When a person's blood glucose rises beyond levels that their body is accustomed to, this is also very dangerous and can lead to a Diabetic Coma. The person often becomes lethargic and sleepy and may lose consciousness. There is nothing you can do to help them other than to call 911, as they need medical attention.
If you do not know which is the problem, too low or too high, you treat as if it's too low. If they're too low and you treat it you may save their life. If they're too high and you treat it as a low you will not be significantly changing anything.
ETA: emergency treatment is not something that should be administered without knowing the situation as it could make things worse. Your best move is to call 911 and do as you're told by the dispatcher. If you are a diabetic it's a smart plan to let the people around you know what to do if you feel off, or to make sure people you are often with know what to do for you in emergency situations. Wearing a Medic Alert bracelet is a smart move, too.
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So those memes and jokes like: Andrew had 10 candy bars and ate 8 of them, what does Andrew have? Andrew has diabetes! Those jokes may be amusing, but they are wrong and they do spread inaccuracies and misconceptions about diabetes. (I usually find them funny, but many diabetics are not so amused.)
And telling your diabetic cousin that maybe he shouldn't have any pie after Christmas dinner? Not cool. Unless you understand his diabetes, know what his blood glucose numbers are, know how he's medicated, and know what he should or shouldn't be eating, because he told you, then please keep your thoughts to yourself. You may be correct or you may be unaware and insulting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
So those memes and jokes like: Andrew had 10 candy bars and ate 8 of them, what does Andrew have? Andrew has diabetes! Those jokes may be amusing, but they are wrong and they do spread inaccuracies and misconceptions about diabetes. (I usually find them funny, but many diabetics are not so amused.)
And telling your diabetic cousin that maybe he shouldn't have any pie after Christmas dinner? Not cool. Unless you understand his diabetes, know what his blood glucose numbers are, know how he's medicated, and know what he should or shouldn't be eating, because he told you, then please keep your thoughts to yourself. You may be correct or you may be unaware and insulting.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Magical Mythical Medical Miracles
I am diabetic. I am a Type 2 diabetic who is on insulin and looking forward to getting an insulin pump next month. I lead a normal life other than every single thing that goes into my mouth gets documented and if I slack off then I end up having problems. As things go, there are worse and I'm very fortunate that I have a great medical team and good research abilities. Good insurance rocks, too.
Over the years I've gone through various diabetes oral medications. I've used glipizide, metformin, Januvia, Amyril.....in various combinations and with varying degrees of effectiveness. I've managed to drive my A1c down to an excellent low of 5.4 and had it spike up over 11 over the course of the years I've been dealing with it. A bit more than a year ago as my A1c hovered somewhat under 9 my doctor and I decided it was time for insulin. I've found that while diet and exercise are the most important ways I can help myself, that insulin works a great deal better than pills.
I am a research junkie. When I was diagnosed about nine years ago, now, with diabetes, having had gestational diabetes in 2000, I went very manic on the research. I still keep up with current medical studies and pharmaceutical findings and so on. I've tried various supplements over the years with varying success to help with blood glucose control. I've found that cinnamon does seem to have a stabilizing effect, though minimal, that is noticeable especially when combined with Chromium as it is so often found now. I do find that taking a teaspoon of honey at night before bed helps lower morning numbers that are often effected by overnight lows, or the Somogyi Effect. I saw no effect with Alpha Lipoic Acid, but then it's said to help with neuropathy which I don't experience so who knows. Garlic didn't do a thing. Green Coffee Bean supplements were useless all the way around. Co Q-10 is just too expensive and when I tried it I found no changes. Flax seed was more annoying than anything trying to find ways to work it into my diet without gagging. I do take Fish Oil and Vitamin D for their own sake and see no effects on my glucose numbers or control at all. The multivitamin I take has excellent folic acid in it, calcium, vit C, etc, and I can't tell if I'm taking it or not, other than if I forgot it there it sits in my pill caddy. I took a B complex once; I took it at half the recommended dosage and after about six weeks, overnight developed neuropathy in my toes which terrified me. As it had come on so quickly and my A1c was good I did research on the B vitamins and discovered that you can overdose of certain B vitamins and neuropathy is how it presents itself. I stopped the supplement immediately and the effect wore off entirely over the following week. I've tried various diabetes supplement packages from various health food stores and retail locations.
Over the years I've tried many other things -- if it's out there I've read about it and likely tried it. I read up on things first, make sure they don't have obvious side effects, and after the B complex thing I dig a fair amount. I keep track of how long I'm taking something and document my glucose numbers and insulin amounts. So far....beyond exercise and diet.....there isn't any magic bullet that helps blood glucose. The best medicine that you can add to what your doctor gives you is to put the carbs down and get off your ass. Advice I don't take very well, but I'm trying. Believe me, I know how easy it is to say and how hard it is to do.
Obviously taking care of your overall health will help keep your body in a healthier state which will help with any condition you may be dealing with, including diabetes. So certain supplements that help with deficiencies you may experience in your life, under the supervision of your doctor, aren't likely to hurt you. Talking to your pharmacist is also an excellent resource. People seriously overlook the importance of their pharmacist in their lives when this is often the person who is on the front lines of what you're putting into your body and has the most direct knowledge of it all. Learn to love your pharmacist, folks.
There is a LOT of misinformation out there. From the Farmer's Almanac to that nurse's aide friend of yours, from Aunt Suzie to that holistic Facebook page you liked, everybody has heard about this or that, this thing that is supposed to help. From the cabbage soup diet to drinking water with various veggies soaking in them, there's always something that somebody wants to share to be helpful, because surely this will work. Maybe because it's "natural" or maybe because the Internet told us it was true, or their best friend did this and it worked....everybody just wants to help. Of course, the best way to really help would be to offer to go for a walk with you, but they've read about this one supplement that really helped this lady on Facebook....it CURED her diabetes. "I'm Super Cereal!" (Forgive me....South Park just leaks in every now and then.)
Oh, how I wish it were true! And I haven't given up....I'm still willing to try various foods, beverages, supplements, as they come along and see if maybe something helps. You know, some magic thing I can ingest that will make it possible for me to lay on the couch watching television eating donuts and drinking Mountain Dew all day while staying thin, keeping my cholesterol, glucose, and weight all in check, and not slowly kill me. If I find it, you'll know.....mainly because I'll be selling that shit and buying a mountain lake for my very own.....
So my point? Oh....yeah, there kind of is one in here. Earlier today on a Facebook page that I have previously enjoyed the hell out of, one of these CURES was posted. When I objected to it, citing that it was bull and that somebody foolish might take it seriously and do something dangerous, the reply I got was that I was bitching at them and being pathetic for objecting to something I saw on Facebook, that there was a disclaimer right in the picture so people should know better. (Because people are always hesitating and over-thinking things and never just jumping the gun with things they read online....) I replied and then unliked the page and changed it so I won't see it in my feed. I've only got a few friends who also liked it, so I really won't see it anymore. It's a shame that you can't open a dialogue these days with people unless you blow sunshine up their ass, but that's how it goes. I felt like I should counter balance the kind of crap they were putting out there with the general statement that there is no cure for diabetes.
THERE IS NO CURE FOR DIABETES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They are working on it, and I donate what I can when I can toward that end, but at this point in time there is nothing that medical science has for the average consumer to make the beta cells on a pancreas come back to life, to make any you may have left function more efficiently, or anything else. Be it Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, LADA, Metabolic Syndrome.....at this point in time there is no pill that you can take, you beverage you can make, no veggie you can eat, nothing that will fix it. The only fix, and only for Type 2's, is to eat better and exercise and try to remember that we're lucky that's even an option, because it isn't for all diabetics.
Over the years I've gone through various diabetes oral medications. I've used glipizide, metformin, Januvia, Amyril.....in various combinations and with varying degrees of effectiveness. I've managed to drive my A1c down to an excellent low of 5.4 and had it spike up over 11 over the course of the years I've been dealing with it. A bit more than a year ago as my A1c hovered somewhat under 9 my doctor and I decided it was time for insulin. I've found that while diet and exercise are the most important ways I can help myself, that insulin works a great deal better than pills.
I am a research junkie. When I was diagnosed about nine years ago, now, with diabetes, having had gestational diabetes in 2000, I went very manic on the research. I still keep up with current medical studies and pharmaceutical findings and so on. I've tried various supplements over the years with varying success to help with blood glucose control. I've found that cinnamon does seem to have a stabilizing effect, though minimal, that is noticeable especially when combined with Chromium as it is so often found now. I do find that taking a teaspoon of honey at night before bed helps lower morning numbers that are often effected by overnight lows, or the Somogyi Effect. I saw no effect with Alpha Lipoic Acid, but then it's said to help with neuropathy which I don't experience so who knows. Garlic didn't do a thing. Green Coffee Bean supplements were useless all the way around. Co Q-10 is just too expensive and when I tried it I found no changes. Flax seed was more annoying than anything trying to find ways to work it into my diet without gagging. I do take Fish Oil and Vitamin D for their own sake and see no effects on my glucose numbers or control at all. The multivitamin I take has excellent folic acid in it, calcium, vit C, etc, and I can't tell if I'm taking it or not, other than if I forgot it there it sits in my pill caddy. I took a B complex once; I took it at half the recommended dosage and after about six weeks, overnight developed neuropathy in my toes which terrified me. As it had come on so quickly and my A1c was good I did research on the B vitamins and discovered that you can overdose of certain B vitamins and neuropathy is how it presents itself. I stopped the supplement immediately and the effect wore off entirely over the following week. I've tried various diabetes supplement packages from various health food stores and retail locations.
Over the years I've tried many other things -- if it's out there I've read about it and likely tried it. I read up on things first, make sure they don't have obvious side effects, and after the B complex thing I dig a fair amount. I keep track of how long I'm taking something and document my glucose numbers and insulin amounts. So far....beyond exercise and diet.....there isn't any magic bullet that helps blood glucose. The best medicine that you can add to what your doctor gives you is to put the carbs down and get off your ass. Advice I don't take very well, but I'm trying. Believe me, I know how easy it is to say and how hard it is to do.
Obviously taking care of your overall health will help keep your body in a healthier state which will help with any condition you may be dealing with, including diabetes. So certain supplements that help with deficiencies you may experience in your life, under the supervision of your doctor, aren't likely to hurt you. Talking to your pharmacist is also an excellent resource. People seriously overlook the importance of their pharmacist in their lives when this is often the person who is on the front lines of what you're putting into your body and has the most direct knowledge of it all. Learn to love your pharmacist, folks.
There is a LOT of misinformation out there. From the Farmer's Almanac to that nurse's aide friend of yours, from Aunt Suzie to that holistic Facebook page you liked, everybody has heard about this or that, this thing that is supposed to help. From the cabbage soup diet to drinking water with various veggies soaking in them, there's always something that somebody wants to share to be helpful, because surely this will work. Maybe because it's "natural" or maybe because the Internet told us it was true, or their best friend did this and it worked....everybody just wants to help. Of course, the best way to really help would be to offer to go for a walk with you, but they've read about this one supplement that really helped this lady on Facebook....it CURED her diabetes. "I'm Super Cereal!" (Forgive me....South Park just leaks in every now and then.)
Oh, how I wish it were true! And I haven't given up....I'm still willing to try various foods, beverages, supplements, as they come along and see if maybe something helps. You know, some magic thing I can ingest that will make it possible for me to lay on the couch watching television eating donuts and drinking Mountain Dew all day while staying thin, keeping my cholesterol, glucose, and weight all in check, and not slowly kill me. If I find it, you'll know.....mainly because I'll be selling that shit and buying a mountain lake for my very own.....
So my point? Oh....yeah, there kind of is one in here. Earlier today on a Facebook page that I have previously enjoyed the hell out of, one of these CURES was posted. When I objected to it, citing that it was bull and that somebody foolish might take it seriously and do something dangerous, the reply I got was that I was bitching at them and being pathetic for objecting to something I saw on Facebook, that there was a disclaimer right in the picture so people should know better. (Because people are always hesitating and over-thinking things and never just jumping the gun with things they read online....) I replied and then unliked the page and changed it so I won't see it in my feed. I've only got a few friends who also liked it, so I really won't see it anymore. It's a shame that you can't open a dialogue these days with people unless you blow sunshine up their ass, but that's how it goes. I felt like I should counter balance the kind of crap they were putting out there with the general statement that there is no cure for diabetes.
THERE IS NO CURE FOR DIABETES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They are working on it, and I donate what I can when I can toward that end, but at this point in time there is nothing that medical science has for the average consumer to make the beta cells on a pancreas come back to life, to make any you may have left function more efficiently, or anything else. Be it Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, LADA, Metabolic Syndrome.....at this point in time there is no pill that you can take, you beverage you can make, no veggie you can eat, nothing that will fix it. The only fix, and only for Type 2's, is to eat better and exercise and try to remember that we're lucky that's even an option, because it isn't for all diabetics.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
My Local Online Newspaper
NorthCountryNow.com .....I'm not blind....I realize that all media is corrupt. All modern media heels to the sources of their own funding. If a media source needs to increase viewers or readers to increase profits then that is what they do, by whatever means necessary. I believe that this is true from CNN all the way down to this small local media outlet. It's a shame, though. You'd like to think that maybe on a smaller, more local level, you might not see the greed, you might see something a bit more like what we used to call news.
Not that North Country Now ever posted anything remotely similar to news or current events, heck, Topix has more accurate current event information, but I've deleted them from my list of sites that I visit. They've held the kind of entertainment value that used to be found with papers like The Weekly World News, and the Nat'l Enquirer. Most recently, though, they've gone so far as to foster and promote a letter writing war among their readers. They started by posting one woman's letter in the main news feed, which they sometimes do. They made sure to pick the most inflammatory letter they could, which was of a woman condemning Potsdam's Gay Pride parade. (A small town's first parade of this nature, and a first in our county, and it was lovely!) In the following weeks, there have been flurries of letters written back and forth among readers and posted to their pages and the managers of the site keep the drama going by picking and posting alternating view points to the main news feed. So essentially what North Country Now is telling us is that the North Country is so weak that ignorant debates over the sinful nature of humanity as deemed by "Good Christians" versus equal rights and our personal freedom not to have to listen to the condemnations of sheep is not only newsworthy, but what we deserve to read. They're trying to increase site hits by increasing public drama rather than by seeking out and reporting news. They weren't exactly a great news source, but they did report a lot of the smaller and more personal stories and I liked that. Now they've just sunk to a new level, though.
Whatever mine or anybody else's opinions are about equal rights and such things, an alleged news source should at least not promote drama and bickering amongst it's readers in order to promote readership. That isn't reporting the news....that's trying to make something into news, that's just ignorant drama.
Not that North Country Now ever posted anything remotely similar to news or current events, heck, Topix has more accurate current event information, but I've deleted them from my list of sites that I visit. They've held the kind of entertainment value that used to be found with papers like The Weekly World News, and the Nat'l Enquirer. Most recently, though, they've gone so far as to foster and promote a letter writing war among their readers. They started by posting one woman's letter in the main news feed, which they sometimes do. They made sure to pick the most inflammatory letter they could, which was of a woman condemning Potsdam's Gay Pride parade. (A small town's first parade of this nature, and a first in our county, and it was lovely!) In the following weeks, there have been flurries of letters written back and forth among readers and posted to their pages and the managers of the site keep the drama going by picking and posting alternating view points to the main news feed. So essentially what North Country Now is telling us is that the North Country is so weak that ignorant debates over the sinful nature of humanity as deemed by "Good Christians" versus equal rights and our personal freedom not to have to listen to the condemnations of sheep is not only newsworthy, but what we deserve to read. They're trying to increase site hits by increasing public drama rather than by seeking out and reporting news. They weren't exactly a great news source, but they did report a lot of the smaller and more personal stories and I liked that. Now they've just sunk to a new level, though.
Whatever mine or anybody else's opinions are about equal rights and such things, an alleged news source should at least not promote drama and bickering amongst it's readers in order to promote readership. That isn't reporting the news....that's trying to make something into news, that's just ignorant drama.
Monday, February 24, 2014
I Miss You
Dear Aunt Glen,
Well, it's been over a year now since you died and about a year since I went and cleaned out your home, where you spent your last years, where you watched your husband precede you into the next mystery, where I got to know you as two adult women.
A dear friend of mine is losing somebody right now in a way very similar to how we lost you. You had stage 4 lung cancer and it created other problems that killed you. My friends father in law is suffering of end stage COPD and they're waiting for that final call. Nobodies suffering is the same so I can't tell her that I know how she feels, but I think I know how much it hurts.
I remember that we had a few scares in that last year, scares where they told us it was near the end and you kept pulling back out of it by sheer force of will. Man, you were a tough woman! I think you wanted that last holiday season with your grandchildren and to see your sisters one more time before letting go, because that's exactly what you did. I don't know if you know this, but I stayed with you at the end. When they called I borrowed a car and flew down the highways to you. Everybody had kept a vigil at your bedside, though I think you were already far beyond us at that point. You son, your oldest child, and I stayed with you that last night. We slept a little, but not really, and we took turns holding your hand and talking to you. I whispered in your ear, I told you it was okay to let go, now. I remembered a conversation just you and I had had where I told you when it was over I'd know that you were running across a summer field of flowers to your beloved, like Laura Ingalls, and we kind of laughed in that way you do when something hurts but you don't want to cry, so you laugh a little because it hits close to home. You couldn't even walk at the end, couldn't even use facilities without help, and I told you that when you shed this life that's how I'd see you.
I want you to know that I do. Today I'm thinking of you and in my thoughts you and Uncle Billy are in a summer place where there is only sunshine and joy, where there is no pain, no fear, no sadness.
Somebody else lives in that house now, and your children have gone their own ways as they always were going to. No great lessons were learned, no new philosophy has been discovered, no great wisdom gained. I miss you. We all miss you. Life goes one and we're all doing okay. Thank you for sticking around a bit and taking care of a few things for my Mom. I think it must be so tiring, at the end of a lifetime, to think of all the things you still wanted to do, to still have to comfort those around you while you're facing the next mystery looming so closely. You did it very well, with grace, with love, and I think you got to have some fun there, a few times. I'm glad, but oh, it hurts that you're not here.
Pick a daisy in that field for me, today, and smile for me.
I miss you.
Amy
Well, it's been over a year now since you died and about a year since I went and cleaned out your home, where you spent your last years, where you watched your husband precede you into the next mystery, where I got to know you as two adult women.
A dear friend of mine is losing somebody right now in a way very similar to how we lost you. You had stage 4 lung cancer and it created other problems that killed you. My friends father in law is suffering of end stage COPD and they're waiting for that final call. Nobodies suffering is the same so I can't tell her that I know how she feels, but I think I know how much it hurts.
I remember that we had a few scares in that last year, scares where they told us it was near the end and you kept pulling back out of it by sheer force of will. Man, you were a tough woman! I think you wanted that last holiday season with your grandchildren and to see your sisters one more time before letting go, because that's exactly what you did. I don't know if you know this, but I stayed with you at the end. When they called I borrowed a car and flew down the highways to you. Everybody had kept a vigil at your bedside, though I think you were already far beyond us at that point. You son, your oldest child, and I stayed with you that last night. We slept a little, but not really, and we took turns holding your hand and talking to you. I whispered in your ear, I told you it was okay to let go, now. I remembered a conversation just you and I had had where I told you when it was over I'd know that you were running across a summer field of flowers to your beloved, like Laura Ingalls, and we kind of laughed in that way you do when something hurts but you don't want to cry, so you laugh a little because it hits close to home. You couldn't even walk at the end, couldn't even use facilities without help, and I told you that when you shed this life that's how I'd see you.
I want you to know that I do. Today I'm thinking of you and in my thoughts you and Uncle Billy are in a summer place where there is only sunshine and joy, where there is no pain, no fear, no sadness.
Somebody else lives in that house now, and your children have gone their own ways as they always were going to. No great lessons were learned, no new philosophy has been discovered, no great wisdom gained. I miss you. We all miss you. Life goes one and we're all doing okay. Thank you for sticking around a bit and taking care of a few things for my Mom. I think it must be so tiring, at the end of a lifetime, to think of all the things you still wanted to do, to still have to comfort those around you while you're facing the next mystery looming so closely. You did it very well, with grace, with love, and I think you got to have some fun there, a few times. I'm glad, but oh, it hurts that you're not here.
Pick a daisy in that field for me, today, and smile for me.
I miss you.
Amy
Thursday, February 13, 2014
To Be or Not To Be....That Is A Stupid Question
Don't you just love the way that Shakespeare's characters are commonly thought to be so deep and his works so very meaningful? I wonder if someday people will look at Stephen King the same way....
What musicians will be to future generations what Beethoven, Bach, etc., are to us today? Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen?
What medical miracles that we marvel at today will be the bonesaws and leeches of tomorrow? Hip replacements? Chemotherapy?
We put men on the Moon with less technology than many of us carry in our pockets today. My son talks to his electronics and they do what he tells them to do. My phone has been programmed with a sense of humor. If this is the technology available to the masses, what levels of technological genius are at the fingertips of the supersecretsquirrel people? If they revealed the stealth technology in the 70's, when household technology was blown away with 8-tracks and microwaves, what are they hiding today?
I think it's pretty amazing to see the advances in technology and thinking just in my own lifetime, just in 40 years. I think about the things that my mother had in her world and compare them to my son's world and it's like a science fiction novel. I wonder.....what will our world be like when my grandchildren are grown.
What musicians will be to future generations what Beethoven, Bach, etc., are to us today? Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen?
What medical miracles that we marvel at today will be the bonesaws and leeches of tomorrow? Hip replacements? Chemotherapy?
We put men on the Moon with less technology than many of us carry in our pockets today. My son talks to his electronics and they do what he tells them to do. My phone has been programmed with a sense of humor. If this is the technology available to the masses, what levels of technological genius are at the fingertips of the supersecretsquirrel people? If they revealed the stealth technology in the 70's, when household technology was blown away with 8-tracks and microwaves, what are they hiding today?
I think it's pretty amazing to see the advances in technology and thinking just in my own lifetime, just in 40 years. I think about the things that my mother had in her world and compare them to my son's world and it's like a science fiction novel. I wonder.....what will our world be like when my grandchildren are grown.
Monday, February 10, 2014
To A Troubled Teen...
Life is a bitch. These are not the best years of your life. Life is never fair.
You're not wrong when you think these things. You're not crazy, you're not entirely wrong, and you're not alone. Just a few short years ago your world was all about your friends at school, your toys, maybe video games. Mom got you up in the morning and there was breakfast and off to school you went. The teachers weren't always friendly, but the work wasn't that hard so you did what you needed to do to get by. You had recess, you played with friends, you went home. You played some more, maybe had to pick up a little bit, maybe played outdoors with your friends. When you forgot something or did something wrong somebody explained what and why and the worst that happened was you got yelled at, maybe lost a toy for a day or two.
Now you've got to do so many things yourself. No matter how tired you are you've got to get yourself up in the morning, deal with your own breakfast, clothes, and time it all to get to school. When you get to school you've got a dozen different teachers all telling you what to do. Half of what they tell you is so easy that it's boring, half of it is like trying to read ancient Greek. You know you're never going to need this crap in life so you don't worry about it, but that just ends up with teachers preaching at you, nagging at you, picking at you, until you finally open your mouth. You really don't mean to say just the wrong thing, but somehow you always seem to, and then you're in more trouble. Nobody is gentle, nobody is considerate, nobody looks and asks you how you're feeling or why you're so angry, you're just punished and that's that. They give you some speech about loving and caring and bunny loving tree hugger why can't we all just get along kind of crap and send you back to class where it starts all over again. You try, but nothing changes so why should you?
Half a day, and an eternity later, you're finally at home. Home, where you should feel comforted, understood, loved. But it's more of the same old same old. Wash clothes, do dishes, walk dogs, clean rooms, toe the line, talk this way, do this now, do that later, do it all before this deadline. You aren't trying to be a jerk, but you end up saying something. What you said and what they hear isn't the same thing at all. You're tired from the never ending pain in the ass that it all is, but they don't care. So you tune it out, you lose track of time, the next thing you know your deadline is past, you've done nothing, and it's time to deal with it. There's yelling, there's crying, there's guilt, there's anger, and you don't know what to do with all of it so you open your mouth again. And it's no use. You say one thing, they hear something else, and everybody is hurt and angry.
At least, that's how it all started. It's gone on for so long now that everybody just expects you to say the wrong thing. At this point, no matter what you say, they keep hearing the same thing. You don't know how to change that and you're sick of trying. If they can't hear what you're really saying then forget them. And it hurts. And why should you bother, anyway? If you try to change they just keep pigeonholing you right back into that old role of the screw up. They say, "Well, that's good....now keep it up and don't mess it up again." There's always a but, there's always that little add on at the end of the praise to remind you, to needle you, to label you. Because nothing you ever do is good enough. So why bother? You've decided that it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, only there doesn't seem to be any forgiveness left. Best years of your life, huh? You hate their attitude, you hate their condescending ways, you just hate them. All. Jerks. Even though somewhere underneath it all, it hurts.
Meanwhile, looming out there in the future is an entire life that they keep telling you that you're messing up. A life you can't even imagine. Everything right now it so enormous that you can't even focus on this "rest of your life" they keep warning you about. You've got friends, you've got loves, and they come and go, and with every coming and going there's joy, there's pain, and it's consuming. What more is there than this? There's no room left in you to deal with some far off time. It's hard enough to deal with today. You'd just like to have a little fun today, while you still can, because that far off future sounds like it sucks royally. If these are the best years of your life that's really depressing, but you might as well make the most of them, somehow.
It's so much more, and so much less, than all of this. And every story is a little different. But here's the thing....you've got somebody who loves you. No matter how many times you mess things up, no matter how angry she gets, she loves you. She's exhausted beyond the point of reason, but for you she keeps trying. Her life is for you, though she tries to carve out the occasional corner for herself, and you have to share her with your siblings. She would give her life, literally, for you. And here's the biggest secret....she's just as lost as you are. That's the really terrifying thing about growing up. It's learning that nobody really knows what the hell is going to happen next, everybody is just doing the best they can with what they've got. There are always those people who make it look easy, and there are always those people who can't ever catch a break, and somewhere in the middle is most people. People just taking crap from their bosses, from their spouses, from their friends, from their family, from their kids, from their relatives, always trying to figure the next step out, always a struggle. And it's two steps forward, one step back, for most of your life. And it sucks.
These adults who love you, they're just trying to help you reach maturity without self destructing, and hopefully with the skills to do better than they did. They only have their own lives to use as a reference point, their own experiences to help them figure out how to do that, and all they can do is try. So you're like a guinea pig, really. And when you don't fit the mold they don't know what the hell to do with you. They're trying to control you, but you don't want to be controlled. It's just a constant struggle. And when they say something, you don't hear what they say, you hear what you think they're going to say, and it hurts.
So what's my point? You mean, I'm supposed to have a point? What makes you think I have any better of a clue than anybody else....any special handle on all this that they don't have? I've learned quite a bit, I've actually got a good handle on a lot of things, but there's no point in sharing any of it. Everybody's life is totally and utterly different. And if I told you what I know you wouldn't get it anyway. It would sound trite and a lot like the garbage they shower on you regularly at school. The most important thing that I can tell you is that you are not alone. No matter what you feel, no matter how much it hurts, how angry you get, you are not alone. Through all the joy, through all the pain, the misunderstanding, the frustration, you are not alone. You are never alone. Never. It's the best I got.
So really, all you can do is keep plodding your way through the bullshit. Try to learn to work the system, to work within the system, when you need to. It'll make things easier. And try to learn how to say things and when to say things so that you don't heap piles of retribution on your own head. How? Well, trial and error is the best teacher. If you can learn from your missteps it'll make things a lot easier. If you can learn from the mistakes of others you'll be brilliant. Good luck!
You're not wrong when you think these things. You're not crazy, you're not entirely wrong, and you're not alone. Just a few short years ago your world was all about your friends at school, your toys, maybe video games. Mom got you up in the morning and there was breakfast and off to school you went. The teachers weren't always friendly, but the work wasn't that hard so you did what you needed to do to get by. You had recess, you played with friends, you went home. You played some more, maybe had to pick up a little bit, maybe played outdoors with your friends. When you forgot something or did something wrong somebody explained what and why and the worst that happened was you got yelled at, maybe lost a toy for a day or two.
Now you've got to do so many things yourself. No matter how tired you are you've got to get yourself up in the morning, deal with your own breakfast, clothes, and time it all to get to school. When you get to school you've got a dozen different teachers all telling you what to do. Half of what they tell you is so easy that it's boring, half of it is like trying to read ancient Greek. You know you're never going to need this crap in life so you don't worry about it, but that just ends up with teachers preaching at you, nagging at you, picking at you, until you finally open your mouth. You really don't mean to say just the wrong thing, but somehow you always seem to, and then you're in more trouble. Nobody is gentle, nobody is considerate, nobody looks and asks you how you're feeling or why you're so angry, you're just punished and that's that. They give you some speech about loving and caring and bunny loving tree hugger why can't we all just get along kind of crap and send you back to class where it starts all over again. You try, but nothing changes so why should you?
Half a day, and an eternity later, you're finally at home. Home, where you should feel comforted, understood, loved. But it's more of the same old same old. Wash clothes, do dishes, walk dogs, clean rooms, toe the line, talk this way, do this now, do that later, do it all before this deadline. You aren't trying to be a jerk, but you end up saying something. What you said and what they hear isn't the same thing at all. You're tired from the never ending pain in the ass that it all is, but they don't care. So you tune it out, you lose track of time, the next thing you know your deadline is past, you've done nothing, and it's time to deal with it. There's yelling, there's crying, there's guilt, there's anger, and you don't know what to do with all of it so you open your mouth again. And it's no use. You say one thing, they hear something else, and everybody is hurt and angry.
At least, that's how it all started. It's gone on for so long now that everybody just expects you to say the wrong thing. At this point, no matter what you say, they keep hearing the same thing. You don't know how to change that and you're sick of trying. If they can't hear what you're really saying then forget them. And it hurts. And why should you bother, anyway? If you try to change they just keep pigeonholing you right back into that old role of the screw up. They say, "Well, that's good....now keep it up and don't mess it up again." There's always a but, there's always that little add on at the end of the praise to remind you, to needle you, to label you. Because nothing you ever do is good enough. So why bother? You've decided that it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, only there doesn't seem to be any forgiveness left. Best years of your life, huh? You hate their attitude, you hate their condescending ways, you just hate them. All. Jerks. Even though somewhere underneath it all, it hurts.
Meanwhile, looming out there in the future is an entire life that they keep telling you that you're messing up. A life you can't even imagine. Everything right now it so enormous that you can't even focus on this "rest of your life" they keep warning you about. You've got friends, you've got loves, and they come and go, and with every coming and going there's joy, there's pain, and it's consuming. What more is there than this? There's no room left in you to deal with some far off time. It's hard enough to deal with today. You'd just like to have a little fun today, while you still can, because that far off future sounds like it sucks royally. If these are the best years of your life that's really depressing, but you might as well make the most of them, somehow.
It's so much more, and so much less, than all of this. And every story is a little different. But here's the thing....you've got somebody who loves you. No matter how many times you mess things up, no matter how angry she gets, she loves you. She's exhausted beyond the point of reason, but for you she keeps trying. Her life is for you, though she tries to carve out the occasional corner for herself, and you have to share her with your siblings. She would give her life, literally, for you. And here's the biggest secret....she's just as lost as you are. That's the really terrifying thing about growing up. It's learning that nobody really knows what the hell is going to happen next, everybody is just doing the best they can with what they've got. There are always those people who make it look easy, and there are always those people who can't ever catch a break, and somewhere in the middle is most people. People just taking crap from their bosses, from their spouses, from their friends, from their family, from their kids, from their relatives, always trying to figure the next step out, always a struggle. And it's two steps forward, one step back, for most of your life. And it sucks.
These adults who love you, they're just trying to help you reach maturity without self destructing, and hopefully with the skills to do better than they did. They only have their own lives to use as a reference point, their own experiences to help them figure out how to do that, and all they can do is try. So you're like a guinea pig, really. And when you don't fit the mold they don't know what the hell to do with you. They're trying to control you, but you don't want to be controlled. It's just a constant struggle. And when they say something, you don't hear what they say, you hear what you think they're going to say, and it hurts.
So what's my point? You mean, I'm supposed to have a point? What makes you think I have any better of a clue than anybody else....any special handle on all this that they don't have? I've learned quite a bit, I've actually got a good handle on a lot of things, but there's no point in sharing any of it. Everybody's life is totally and utterly different. And if I told you what I know you wouldn't get it anyway. It would sound trite and a lot like the garbage they shower on you regularly at school. The most important thing that I can tell you is that you are not alone. No matter what you feel, no matter how much it hurts, how angry you get, you are not alone. Through all the joy, through all the pain, the misunderstanding, the frustration, you are not alone. You are never alone. Never. It's the best I got.
So really, all you can do is keep plodding your way through the bullshit. Try to learn to work the system, to work within the system, when you need to. It'll make things easier. And try to learn how to say things and when to say things so that you don't heap piles of retribution on your own head. How? Well, trial and error is the best teacher. If you can learn from your missteps it'll make things a lot easier. If you can learn from the mistakes of others you'll be brilliant. Good luck!
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Laundry and Dishes and Dusting; Oh, My!!!
Sorting the clothes, washing the clothes, drying the clothes, folding the clothes, putting clothes away, buy new clothes, get rid of old clothes, buy new coats, buy new boots and shoes and sneakers, get rid of old outerwear. Sort and replace the hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, snow pants.
Buying the food, putting the food away, deciding what to make with the food, making meals with the food, cleaning up after the meals, rinsing the dishes, washing the dishes, drying the dishes, putting the dishes away.
Let the dogs out, let the dogs in, buy the dog food, buy the dog treats, feed the dogs, buy the dogs peepee pads, pick up the dirty peepee pads, put down more pee pee pads, bathe the dogs, buy flea treatment, treat dogs for fleas, make vet appointments, transport dogs to vets.
Let the cats out, let the cats in, buy the cats food, feed the cats, buy the cats litter, change the litter boxes.
Fill the trash cans, empty all the trash cans into one trash can, remove the full bag of trash, tie it, bring it outside to the big trash cans. Avoid the overly friendly single 50 something trash man. Pick up empty trash cans, chase down errant lids, replace trash cans in appropriate places.
Stock the fridge, sort through old food in the fridge and dispose, clean the fridge. Clean the stove. Clean the oven. Clean the microwave. Clean the coffee pot. Clean the mixer, the blender, the deep fryer, the crock pot, the bread machine.
Make more ice.
Buy soap, buy shampoo, buy shaving cream, buy after shave, buy deodorant, buy toothpaste, buy floss, buy mouthwash, buy new toothbrushes, buy acne products,buy sunscreen, buy hair products, buy new shower curtain liners, buy toilet paper, buy toilet bowl cleaner, buy Comet, buy Lysol, clean toilet, clean tub and shower, clean floor, clean sink, clean mirror, wash linens.
Remove the sheets, remove the pillow cases, remove the blankets, wash all the linens, make the beds.
Vacuum the floors, sweep the floors, clean up messes on the floors, use the floor scrubber to scrub the floors, wax/shine the floors.
Remove cushion covers from sofa and chair cushions and wash and replace. Use sticky roller to clean pet hair off furniture. Dust all the things.
Clean the ceiling fans, replace the light bulbs, maintain the appliances, clean vents, clean knobs, clean cupboards, clean windows, clean tables.
Clean out junk drawers, clear off catch-alls, clean up book shelves, clean up movie shelves.
Do the budget, pay the bills, buy the presents, plan the trips. Remember the birthdays, buy the cards, buy the stamps, fill out the cards, address the envelopes, mail the cards. Get the mail, sort the mail.
Make the doctor appointments, get everybody to their doctor appointments, talk to all the doctors, get the prescriptions, fill the prescriptions, make sure everybody takes their medicines, buy the supplements and vitamins, make sure everybody takes their vitamins and supplements.
Buy the bird feeders, buy the bird food, fill the bird feeders, maintain the bird feeders.
Rake the lawn, mow the lawn, plant the flowers, deadhead the flowers, water the flowers, plant the grass seed, plant the garden, maintain the garden, harvest the garden, pick up dog messes, shovel the snow, salt the steps.
Buy first aid products, keep first aid products together, sorted, up to date, and replaced, and use first aid when necessary.
Keep track of all hobby and extra curricular activities, buy supplies for all, schedule all, taxi to and from all.
Sort attic, maintain storage items in attic, bring seasonal item to and from the attic.
Paint, glue, iron, patch, sew, mend, clean, repair, replace all the things.
Keep track of all family members, their interests, their needs, their problems, their successes, share quality time.
Work to contribute money to household budget.
Find time for self.
So, how was your day?
Buying the food, putting the food away, deciding what to make with the food, making meals with the food, cleaning up after the meals, rinsing the dishes, washing the dishes, drying the dishes, putting the dishes away.
Let the dogs out, let the dogs in, buy the dog food, buy the dog treats, feed the dogs, buy the dogs peepee pads, pick up the dirty peepee pads, put down more pee pee pads, bathe the dogs, buy flea treatment, treat dogs for fleas, make vet appointments, transport dogs to vets.
Let the cats out, let the cats in, buy the cats food, feed the cats, buy the cats litter, change the litter boxes.
Fill the trash cans, empty all the trash cans into one trash can, remove the full bag of trash, tie it, bring it outside to the big trash cans. Avoid the overly friendly single 50 something trash man. Pick up empty trash cans, chase down errant lids, replace trash cans in appropriate places.
Stock the fridge, sort through old food in the fridge and dispose, clean the fridge. Clean the stove. Clean the oven. Clean the microwave. Clean the coffee pot. Clean the mixer, the blender, the deep fryer, the crock pot, the bread machine.
Make more ice.
Buy soap, buy shampoo, buy shaving cream, buy after shave, buy deodorant, buy toothpaste, buy floss, buy mouthwash, buy new toothbrushes, buy acne products,buy sunscreen, buy hair products, buy new shower curtain liners, buy toilet paper, buy toilet bowl cleaner, buy Comet, buy Lysol, clean toilet, clean tub and shower, clean floor, clean sink, clean mirror, wash linens.
Remove the sheets, remove the pillow cases, remove the blankets, wash all the linens, make the beds.
Vacuum the floors, sweep the floors, clean up messes on the floors, use the floor scrubber to scrub the floors, wax/shine the floors.
Remove cushion covers from sofa and chair cushions and wash and replace. Use sticky roller to clean pet hair off furniture. Dust all the things.
Clean the ceiling fans, replace the light bulbs, maintain the appliances, clean vents, clean knobs, clean cupboards, clean windows, clean tables.
Clean out junk drawers, clear off catch-alls, clean up book shelves, clean up movie shelves.
Do the budget, pay the bills, buy the presents, plan the trips. Remember the birthdays, buy the cards, buy the stamps, fill out the cards, address the envelopes, mail the cards. Get the mail, sort the mail.
Make the doctor appointments, get everybody to their doctor appointments, talk to all the doctors, get the prescriptions, fill the prescriptions, make sure everybody takes their medicines, buy the supplements and vitamins, make sure everybody takes their vitamins and supplements.
Buy the bird feeders, buy the bird food, fill the bird feeders, maintain the bird feeders.
Rake the lawn, mow the lawn, plant the flowers, deadhead the flowers, water the flowers, plant the grass seed, plant the garden, maintain the garden, harvest the garden, pick up dog messes, shovel the snow, salt the steps.
Buy first aid products, keep first aid products together, sorted, up to date, and replaced, and use first aid when necessary.
Keep track of all hobby and extra curricular activities, buy supplies for all, schedule all, taxi to and from all.
Sort attic, maintain storage items in attic, bring seasonal item to and from the attic.
Paint, glue, iron, patch, sew, mend, clean, repair, replace all the things.
Keep track of all family members, their interests, their needs, their problems, their successes, share quality time.
Work to contribute money to household budget.
Find time for self.
So, how was your day?
Thursday, February 6, 2014
This Ain't No Disco....
It ain't no country club, neither!
(Sheryl Crow)
I've got the house to myself today. I should go on a cleaning spree but so far it's nearly 10:30am and I'm still in my pajamas. So far today I've accomplished making coffee, charging my cell phone, and blogging. Could be worse....I could still be in bed! These days, though, laying in bed for too long makes my back and neck scream in a terrible agony that even large doses of ibuprofen doesn't help with. I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting older or if it's because I'm so out of shape. I've started doing my yoga stretches in an attempt to help with it....can't hurt.
It's a beautiful day out there today! The sun is out, the fresh snowfall has covered up all the windblown crud and various messes that were out there so the world is a shiny bright puff of fluff right now. The chickadees are swarming my bird feeders, happy to have an easy food supply. Some of them are getting downright plump! I haven't seen the woodpecker this morning, but he comes every day and nibbles away at the suet I've got out there for him. The cardinals, on the other hand, haven't made an appearance in about a week, except for one sighting of the female earlier this week. Granted, the food did run out for a day before I caught it and refilled it, but I think it's just that they're elusive birds. I'm glad I got pictures while they were here feeding, in case they don't become regulars.
On my last blog post some guy commented....I got all excited for a moment when I saw I had a comment! Oh, no.....this was god spam. This guy has listed his occupation as "Keyboard Evangelist"....I suppose you can put a title to anything, eh? So on top of his own very evangelical Christian blog he apparently goes around spamming random bloggers posts with his world view, no matter what the topic of the blog is and certainly without asking if his posts are welcome. I don't suppose he really cares if people welcome his posts....in his mind he's spreading his worldview which will supposedly save eternal souls. I didn't delete his comment, just replied to it, and went to his blog. I posted a similarly random comment on one of his blogs with some information about ancient man made structures. Specifically Gobekle Tepe and from a website that is religious in nature. Curious if he'll approve the post....see, he doesn't allow comments to show up until he approves them. I'd guess that like most evangelical people, he doesn't want scrutiny, questions, or any kind of free thought that might call into question any of his belief structure. Which, to me, means that the belief structure just wouldn't stand up to it.
I really do not care what anybody chooses to believe. At their core, most, if not all, of the religions of the world call for loving one another, for peace, for understanding and tolerance of all. Whether a person believes in a god or goddess who dictates this goodness or they come to this through their own conscience and self awareness makes no difference to me. The only time I really find myself cringing is when people use religion as a weapon: a weapon to oppress a group of people, a weapon to control others, a weapon to wage war. I don't like the pomposity or the condescension, the arrogance and judgement that so many allegedly religious people display in their certainty that not only are they correct in their choices but that others are somehow addled or ignorant for not complying with what they tell them to believe. I don't like it, but I can turn away from it and feel sorry for them that they are so far removed from what they're preaching that it would be humorous if it weren't so annoying. I don't take offense to anybody praying for me or condemning me because they don't have any power over me that I don't give them, and I refuse to give them any. And they can be fun to play with....they're such easy targets! lolz That's the devil in me....a weakness, to be sure. Playing with the small minded people is like teasing a cat with a laser pointer, except the cat at least gets some exercise from the game. I'm trying to learn not to do such thing....to challenge without my own arrogance, because I have no better idea what's out there than anybody else. I want to be more like Bill Nye! :) Here is what evidence I've got, here is what it proves to me, if you can prove differently with evidence then I will be open minded.
Well, that's enough knee deep rambling for this morning! I've run out of creamer for my coffee and have no milk, not that milk is an adequate substitute for creamer, but I'm going to check out recipes to make my own creamer and see if I've got the ingredients. If not, I guess the two cups of coffee I've had so far will be it for today....at least tomorrow is payday!!!
So if you like me, follow me! If you have a moment, leave a comment! And either way, have a good day my pretties!!
(Sheryl Crow)
I've got the house to myself today. I should go on a cleaning spree but so far it's nearly 10:30am and I'm still in my pajamas. So far today I've accomplished making coffee, charging my cell phone, and blogging. Could be worse....I could still be in bed! These days, though, laying in bed for too long makes my back and neck scream in a terrible agony that even large doses of ibuprofen doesn't help with. I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting older or if it's because I'm so out of shape. I've started doing my yoga stretches in an attempt to help with it....can't hurt.
It's a beautiful day out there today! The sun is out, the fresh snowfall has covered up all the windblown crud and various messes that were out there so the world is a shiny bright puff of fluff right now. The chickadees are swarming my bird feeders, happy to have an easy food supply. Some of them are getting downright plump! I haven't seen the woodpecker this morning, but he comes every day and nibbles away at the suet I've got out there for him. The cardinals, on the other hand, haven't made an appearance in about a week, except for one sighting of the female earlier this week. Granted, the food did run out for a day before I caught it and refilled it, but I think it's just that they're elusive birds. I'm glad I got pictures while they were here feeding, in case they don't become regulars.
On my last blog post some guy commented....I got all excited for a moment when I saw I had a comment! Oh, no.....this was god spam. This guy has listed his occupation as "Keyboard Evangelist"....I suppose you can put a title to anything, eh? So on top of his own very evangelical Christian blog he apparently goes around spamming random bloggers posts with his world view, no matter what the topic of the blog is and certainly without asking if his posts are welcome. I don't suppose he really cares if people welcome his posts....in his mind he's spreading his worldview which will supposedly save eternal souls. I didn't delete his comment, just replied to it, and went to his blog. I posted a similarly random comment on one of his blogs with some information about ancient man made structures. Specifically Gobekle Tepe and from a website that is religious in nature. Curious if he'll approve the post....see, he doesn't allow comments to show up until he approves them. I'd guess that like most evangelical people, he doesn't want scrutiny, questions, or any kind of free thought that might call into question any of his belief structure. Which, to me, means that the belief structure just wouldn't stand up to it.
I really do not care what anybody chooses to believe. At their core, most, if not all, of the religions of the world call for loving one another, for peace, for understanding and tolerance of all. Whether a person believes in a god or goddess who dictates this goodness or they come to this through their own conscience and self awareness makes no difference to me. The only time I really find myself cringing is when people use religion as a weapon: a weapon to oppress a group of people, a weapon to control others, a weapon to wage war. I don't like the pomposity or the condescension, the arrogance and judgement that so many allegedly religious people display in their certainty that not only are they correct in their choices but that others are somehow addled or ignorant for not complying with what they tell them to believe. I don't like it, but I can turn away from it and feel sorry for them that they are so far removed from what they're preaching that it would be humorous if it weren't so annoying. I don't take offense to anybody praying for me or condemning me because they don't have any power over me that I don't give them, and I refuse to give them any. And they can be fun to play with....they're such easy targets! lolz That's the devil in me....a weakness, to be sure. Playing with the small minded people is like teasing a cat with a laser pointer, except the cat at least gets some exercise from the game. I'm trying to learn not to do such thing....to challenge without my own arrogance, because I have no better idea what's out there than anybody else. I want to be more like Bill Nye! :) Here is what evidence I've got, here is what it proves to me, if you can prove differently with evidence then I will be open minded.
Well, that's enough knee deep rambling for this morning! I've run out of creamer for my coffee and have no milk, not that milk is an adequate substitute for creamer, but I'm going to check out recipes to make my own creamer and see if I've got the ingredients. If not, I guess the two cups of coffee I've had so far will be it for today....at least tomorrow is payday!!!
So if you like me, follow me! If you have a moment, leave a comment! And either way, have a good day my pretties!!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
I Have Made A Terrible Mistake.....
More than a dozen years ago I made a similar mistake. Back then there was a movie that had come to theaters. It was touted to be the scariest thing to hit the screen since Jamie Lee Curtis screamed her first scream. My best friend saw it and was terrified. My fiancee saw it and couldn't sleep that night. I wasn't able to go see it in theaters because I worked a retail job, read: evenings and weekends. So I waited for it to come out to video. The day it was released I bought the VHS tape on my lunch break. I went home to my apartment that night and made up some popcorn, got a soda, turned the lights all off, put the movie in, and waited to be scared. And waited. Strange noises in the woods....not scary. The haunted campsite scene.....nope, not scary. Sticks tied in bunches hung from trees.....not scary. I kept waiting. I watched that entire movie waiting, hoping, to be scared. I never was. Not once. There were scarier scenes in Just Bitten than in the Blair Witch Project.
About three years ago, now, a series of books emerged written by an unknown author, E.L. James. Readers LOVED these books and hated these books and Tweeted and Facebooked and talked and gushed and ranted about these books. I was told that reading these books drove women into horny madness....that husbands everywhere were thrilled at their wives new reading material. Essentially, porn for women....which is to say, for the mind, not the eyes. Not that we women aren't turned on visually, but it's mostly in our heads.....pretty much the opposite of men. Over the following years most of my friends at some point read these books. Women whose tastes I often shared talked about how excellent these books were. I read reviews, though, that talked about the level of the characterization, the reading level, and other actual literary aspects of the book. Now, please understand that I am NOT a book snob. On a hot summers day I enjoy laying in my hammock and reading some dime store romance about pirates and princesses, the kind of book that you can read in a day, essentially: Fluff. These books, though, weren't being sold as fluff; they weren't being marketed as a cheap supermarket romance. These books were being touted as doing for female literature what the Harry Potter series did for children's lit.
Over the course of the last year I have picked these books up, one at a time, from yard sales. I have less than $5 invested in the three books combined. I knew of nobody nearby who had the series to lend and I didn't want to pay the $15.95 EACH retail that they were marked for. I think I did well.
After reading the first few pages last week, I let the book sit for days. Now, usually no matter what book it is, if I've read the start of it I will read the rest of the book. I do NOT like to leave a book unread once I've started it. There are very, very few books over the course of my life that I did not finish and I can name each of them. So although this book did not entice me to continue reading it, I picked it up last night and opened it once again.
There are less than a hundred pages left to read and I am loathe to pick it up again. It did not disgust me. In fact, if it had been even a tiny bit as shocking as I'd heard it might have been good. I might want to finish reading it. So far all I want to do is track down the mealy mouthed, unrealistic, trite character's inner goddess and pimp slap her. There are two good things that I can say about this book. The first is that it is an excellent example of first person writing, something not often and rarely done well. The second is that this book, the popularity of it's characters, puts some kind of understandable face on BDSM for those people in this world who, through lack of exposure or whatever, still thought it was some rare horror that only sickos and druggies participated in. But folks, I put it down at the end of the chapter involving the much discussed tampon scene. That scene did not disgust me, either, but it was a monumental letdown. I was waiting to be shocked, waiting to be turned on, waiting for something in this book, in these characters to elicit any kind of emotion. You see, whether you love it or hate it, if a work of art elicits an emotion then it's done what it's meant to do: it's made you feel, or think, it's made you react. The only reaction I experienced to this book was that I was tired and it was time for bed. So I closed the book, so close to the end that another 30 minutes of reading would have finished it, and fell fast asleep. I was not bothered that my husband was at work, I did not have any kinky dreams, I had no trouble at all not thinking about this book and going to sleep.
I will not be finishing this book, nor will I be opening the other two. I will pass them on, as I do with all my books, and maybe somebody else will get some enjoyment from them. There's nothing wrong with liking these books.....there are a lot of things in the arts and entertainment world that I like that many consider laughable.....but I absolutely did not like Fifty Shades of Grey. And I have made the executive decision not to subject myself to the Twilight Series, either. Those books I picked up in the same way, with about the same monetary investment. With those, though, I've seen the first few movies and felt brain cells die. I said I'd read the books as they are said to be oh, so much better. Now, though, I think I'll pass those along, too. I've killed enough brain cells already.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Quitting Smoking: A Journey To Health
Day One: I am officially a NON-SMOKER! I am very excited to be beginning this journey. I've read a lot on addiction and self motivation. The physical addiction will be over after the first three days; after that it's all in my head. A positive attitude will be my best weapon. I have to remember that I am no longer strapped to this habit, that cigarettes no longer control me! I don't HAVE to take a smoke break every few hours. I don't HAVE to poison myself and stink up my clothes, hair, and breath with these awful fumes! Yay!!!
Day Two: Well, I made it through that first day. They say that's the worst. I'm not sure who "They" are....I wonder if "They" have quit smoking? But yay! I don't HAVE to have a cigarette! I'm FREE! I'm trying to keep busy with cleaning and organizing. The attic has never been so clean! And it's amazing how many bags of trash I threw out from the basement! And who knew that the kid's room could ever be so clean. I'm saving my own room for tomorrow. It's so nice not to have to smoke!
Day Three: Well, the house is clean. And by clean I mean that it wasn't this clean when it was new. I suppose I'll pain the walls or something, next. I don't have any paint though so I'll need to run into town. Driving used to be one of my "Triggers" but thankfully I don't need to have a cigarette anymore.
Day Three, evening: I went to get paint but ended up at the grocery store. I really hate painting, anyway, but I do enjoy cooking and baking! I picked up lots of different ingredients so I can do some healthy creating in the kitchen. I mean, my sense of smell is going to come back and so my sense of taste will be improved, so what better time to try some good, ole, home cooking!
Day Four: OMG did you ever really know that brownies from scratch could be so much better than the boxed variety? I've asked friends to share recipes with me and there are some really good ones in there. But since I only really get to cook dinner I'm going to work on some baking. I'll share what I make because after all, I don't really need an entire pan of brownies.
I've got to go back to the grocery store now, though, because there are several ingredients in these recipes that I just don't normally have on hand. Good thing I'm saving all that money that I don't have to spend on cigarettes!!!
Day Five: Well, the kids didn't really like the corn flake encrusted fried chicken. Or the bacon and smoked ham in the mac'n cheese. Guess I'll be eating some leftovers for a bit. They did have some of the cupcakes. I really wasn't able to get the frosting patterns that I was going for, but they tasted good all the same. I think I had a few more than I should have, but hey, I'll work it off. Those homemade brownies were amazing! I'm going to put them on top of a layer of cheesecake and make a frosting for them later, when I make another batch. The chocolate just tastes SO GOOD. It must be because I want a cigarette. But I'm not going to have one. I am stronger than the addiction.
Day Six: I bought a pair of those yoga pants today. With all the cleaning I must have dried my jeans on too high of a setting because they won't button. I think maybe I need a new bra, too. God I want a cigarette. I'm going to pick up some hard candy. I really need something for when I'm driving or out of the house. And I'm out of cocoa powder, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar so I'll need to grocery shopping again. Maybe I'll get some chips....all the sweets are getting kind of old. Got I want a smoke.
Day Seven: Somebody really needs to bring me some chocolate. Payday isn't for another week and I'm out of baking supplies, out of chips, out of breakfast cereal, and there's nothing left to clean. But I haven't had a cigarette. Yay me. The family is acting all weird, though. They've all been holed up in their rooms and doing things outside the house this week. Well, that's probably for the best....they kept pissing me off, anyway. I really want a cigarette. I searched the property and the car but there wasn't even a half way decent butt anywhere. I think hubby has some cigars stashed away somewhere from the last baby shower....
Day Eight: Failure. I'm not really sure how it happened, or why, but hubby came home from work today with a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, a gym membership, and a carton of cigarettes. I love him!
Day Two: Well, I made it through that first day. They say that's the worst. I'm not sure who "They" are....I wonder if "They" have quit smoking? But yay! I don't HAVE to have a cigarette! I'm FREE! I'm trying to keep busy with cleaning and organizing. The attic has never been so clean! And it's amazing how many bags of trash I threw out from the basement! And who knew that the kid's room could ever be so clean. I'm saving my own room for tomorrow. It's so nice not to have to smoke!
Day Three: Well, the house is clean. And by clean I mean that it wasn't this clean when it was new. I suppose I'll pain the walls or something, next. I don't have any paint though so I'll need to run into town. Driving used to be one of my "Triggers" but thankfully I don't need to have a cigarette anymore.
Day Three, evening: I went to get paint but ended up at the grocery store. I really hate painting, anyway, but I do enjoy cooking and baking! I picked up lots of different ingredients so I can do some healthy creating in the kitchen. I mean, my sense of smell is going to come back and so my sense of taste will be improved, so what better time to try some good, ole, home cooking!
Day Four: OMG did you ever really know that brownies from scratch could be so much better than the boxed variety? I've asked friends to share recipes with me and there are some really good ones in there. But since I only really get to cook dinner I'm going to work on some baking. I'll share what I make because after all, I don't really need an entire pan of brownies.
I've got to go back to the grocery store now, though, because there are several ingredients in these recipes that I just don't normally have on hand. Good thing I'm saving all that money that I don't have to spend on cigarettes!!!
Day Five: Well, the kids didn't really like the corn flake encrusted fried chicken. Or the bacon and smoked ham in the mac'n cheese. Guess I'll be eating some leftovers for a bit. They did have some of the cupcakes. I really wasn't able to get the frosting patterns that I was going for, but they tasted good all the same. I think I had a few more than I should have, but hey, I'll work it off. Those homemade brownies were amazing! I'm going to put them on top of a layer of cheesecake and make a frosting for them later, when I make another batch. The chocolate just tastes SO GOOD. It must be because I want a cigarette. But I'm not going to have one. I am stronger than the addiction.
Day Six: I bought a pair of those yoga pants today. With all the cleaning I must have dried my jeans on too high of a setting because they won't button. I think maybe I need a new bra, too. God I want a cigarette. I'm going to pick up some hard candy. I really need something for when I'm driving or out of the house. And I'm out of cocoa powder, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar so I'll need to grocery shopping again. Maybe I'll get some chips....all the sweets are getting kind of old. Got I want a smoke.
Day Seven: Somebody really needs to bring me some chocolate. Payday isn't for another week and I'm out of baking supplies, out of chips, out of breakfast cereal, and there's nothing left to clean. But I haven't had a cigarette. Yay me. The family is acting all weird, though. They've all been holed up in their rooms and doing things outside the house this week. Well, that's probably for the best....they kept pissing me off, anyway. I really want a cigarette. I searched the property and the car but there wasn't even a half way decent butt anywhere. I think hubby has some cigars stashed away somewhere from the last baby shower....
Day Eight: Failure. I'm not really sure how it happened, or why, but hubby came home from work today with a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, a gym membership, and a carton of cigarettes. I love him!
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