Dat 154 Back to the Books!

Life is busy.  Shopping for holiday gifts, wrapping, mailing and going out and doing it all over again another day.

I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but I think there are wonderful "finds" in gift shops.  My favorite gift shops are those associated with an art museum, but interesting shops abound, just about anywhere there is an "attraction."  My lovely sister-in-law got me these lovely Monet inspired water lilies from the Chicago Art Institute.

INow there is a new type of store I can add to my shopping list - antique shops.  C and I had great success yesterday at a shop that held about a hundred vendors. We found awesome stuff for the people we care about and made some interesting discoveries as well.  One vendor had, in perfect condition, newspapers from the early 1950's.  We discovered an attempt on the life of President Truman that neither of us had ever heard about.

A trip like this is great fodder for conversation as well.  It's an amazing time to find out how old your kids really think you are (LOL).

Day 153 Holiday Cheer

Things have been busy around here, as is often the case once Thanksgiving hits and the holidays arrive.

I can tell I am overall feeling better because I am finally getting things done.  I've foregone the usual Christmas letter in lieu of personalized hand-written notes in the cards. I've contacted insurance carriers regarding COBRA and Open Enrollment (which currently ends this week). I've attended three doctor appointments, baked cookies, shredded and tossed a good three waste baskets of unneeded paper items, gotten Christmas linen washed and onto various table tops, painted the deck, and have been consistent with drinking my concoction.

I've lost two for real pounds, and my blood sugar overall is a WHOLE lot better - we're talking 130 for fasting.

Last night, a group of us (nearly twenty) rented a limo bus and toured town looking at Christmas lights. 

One of the ladies used to own this company, and when it was sold she maintained connections with the buyer.  We got a great deal on this ride.  We were in the bus for about three hours, going all over town.

Day 152 Potporri

A little more of this and that.

C is stuffed up, feverish and in general, just miserable. He needs a couple of days of sleep which is not going to happen since they need every breathing body available for the close of open enrollment.

Hopefully the computer systems will be working properly.  It hearkens back to the days of the first open enrollment  where the state exchanges had massive web failures.  You'd think after all this time, properly working web sites and programs wouldn't be an issue.

This sort of thing is not uncommon, unfortunately.  Little tweaks have to be made each year - things like changing the plan year date, or the rates.  But, in two different companies now, I've seen that what should be simple isn't.  Updates break programs.  A little planning and a whole lot of testing should prevent overload failure but it doesn't.

Day 151 Getting in the Groove

Well, well, well.  Another post...of sorts.

I have made a list, yeah, and while I am not getting everything done on the list, I am checking things off and have even planned a few things for tomorrow and the day after.

This makes me feel like I am moving ahead, even if it is just a little bit at a time.  Some of the things on the list are absurdly simple, things like taking a shower.

Showing may seem like a ever day necessity, but when you are depressed and don't have a desire to go anywhere, and feel the only place you can be is your bed, the thought of showering plummets to the bottom of the survival list.

Day 150 Baby Steps

Today I noticed that I felt a little better. I think this is because my blood sugar level was close to normal this morning.  Great news, and hopefully, I'm on a better path.

Besides my feet and heart, the wild swings of my blood sugar have affected my vision.  I felt it change since Thanksgiving and so today I visited my eye doctor who specializes in retina issues.  I was pleasantly surprised as my vision had not changed as much as I feared.  I must remember, often times, fear is "false evidence appearing real." 

Day 149 Ashamed

I can't believe it has been nearly three months since my last post. Life has been busy, sort of. Things have happened. Depression has not been defeated.

So, I'll try to catch up a little bit and let you know about some of the dangerous living (or not) I've been doing.

Most recently, I had another stay at the University.  I went to walk my little guy and by the time I got home I could barely breath and my chest hurt - nothing like I have ever experience before. I went upstairs and took my blood pressure.

  It was 209/118 with a pulse rate of 115. A stop at Urgent Care registered slightly lower and they wasted no time in telling me I needed to get to the E.R. (my son was with me).

Day 148 Gratitude

In one of my daily readings I read about a person who decided to list, alphabetically, the items they were grateful for.  At the time, it was a begrudging task, but the author did it anyway as a gesture of trying to be more positive.  Doing such a task plants seeds of gratitude, and if you review your list frequently (every day?) you move from duty to sincerity.

So, I thought I would try the exercise, not out of duty, but because I have a number of people, things and events that I am truly grateful to have in my life.