Category Archives: My Life
The Mountains
Here’s [what in my head is the long-awaited] part two post on our Seattle trip…
We had amazing weather for the entire time we were in Seattle. Every local person we talked to commented on how clear and warm it was. It was enough to make you doubt the rain-all-the-time stereotype!
Anyway, we spent a couple of days at a family member’s cabin on Mt. Rainier. Everything was beautiful… and disconnected. It was kind of nice to be away from TV, internet and cell service for a bit and actually unplug (as opposed to saying you’re going to unplug but then not really doing it).
On our first full day in the mountains, we headed up to Crystal Mountain ski resort. Even though the temps were in the 60s and 70s during the day, the ski resort was buzzing with spring skiers. Not being a skier myself, it was interesting to watch. There were people skiing and snowboard in shorts. It was also interesting to be standing on natural snow and be able to wear short sleeves.
At Summit House
We rode the new gondola up to Summit House to have a delicious lunch and possibly the most amazing view. Pictures honestly can’t capture what it was like up there, but we tried! Standing at the highest point at Crystal Mountain, we could clearly see Mt. Rainier. The clear views aren’t that common so we really had a treat. Even though I’m calling it a mountain, it’s important to remember that it’s really a volcano… as is Mt. Saint Helen, which we could also see. We had a nice view of the Olympic Mountains and could see Mt. Hood (part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc in Oregon) in the distance. It’s nice to have seasoned tour guides who can point those things out, otherwise we wouldn’t have known how much awesome stuff was in front of us. Read the rest of this entry
Bursting into a basement lake
I’m taking a break from D-Blog Week (possibly rounding out my participation since I don’t normally blog on the weekends) to talk about an adventure in home ownership.
One of the things that we loved about this house when we put our offer on it more than a year ago was that it was updated within the previous 5 years (new furnace, air conditioning, new water heater) and had current code wiring, which isn’t that common in houses built when ours was.
On Mother’s Day, about two minutes into my morning shower it felt like the hot water had dropped off so I turned the cold off completely and took a luke-warm shower. Brad hopped in the shower after me and scolded me for using up all of the hot water. When I told him I’d had barely any for mine, he went downstairs to check on the water heater.
Draining the tank after some drying had occurred.
What he found was the beginning of a new Great Lake forming in our basement. Our GE water heater, manufacture date of 12/2011, had burst. We could still hear water running into the tank when he shut off the valve to the heater. So Brad shut off water to our whole house. We spent the rest of the morning with a garden hose running from the heater to the utility sink to drain, mopping up the water (that thankfully hadn’t damaged anything) in the basement, Brad called the company then called a plumber. Read the rest of this entry
A memorable day
I’ve said several times before that I really don’t know people in my “real life” with type 1. I finally had the opportunity to meet DOC member Amy in person and discovered how truly small the world is (we found out that she’s known members of my family longer than she’s “known” me!). When I read today’s prompt directly followed by some tweets about diabetes in the wild, I thought back to a day… not my most memorable day with diabetes but one worth sharing.
Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere…. your or your loved one’s diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share. (Thanks to Jasmine of Silver-Lined for this topic suggestion.)
I was diagnosed with diabetes in the middle of August 2011. My husband and I moved to Cleveland in September and that October we were shopping at Crocker Park (an amazing outdoor shopping center). I wasn’t yet on an insulin pump but was in the process of getting started with one.
Brad and I had finished our shopping and were returning to our car in the parking garage. When we reached our garage, there was a group of three teenagers talking and laughing in the stairwell. The girl who was sitting on the step scooted over so we could walk past, as she scooted I saw it. It looked like a purple pager clipped to the outside of her pocket with a clear tube sticking out of it.
I wanted to exclaim, “I have diabetes too!” but the calm, rational adult in me reminded me that having a stranger point out your medical condition as a teenager could possibly mortifying, so instead I smiled and said thanks to her when we passed.
On the second level of the parking garage, when we were safely out of earshot I turned to Brad and said, “That girl on the steps has diabetes too and she was wearing an insulin pump.” He hadn’t noticed.
I learned two things that day:
1. There were other people in the world having “normal” lives while having diabetes. I hadn’t yet achieved a “normal” life since my diagnosis.
2. It’s completely possible to for the condition that had taken over my life to go completely unnoticed by others.
Sometimes I wish I had said something to the girl in the stairwell, especially after moments when my insulin pump being visible helped others feel less alone.
Other Memorable Days:
The City
Because I’m physically back from vacation, but mentally still there… Welcome to my trip recap mini-series.
We got killer airfare to fly out west to Seattle and the trip had two pretty different parts. The city and the mountains. (Airport and diabetes-related topics aside)
We went out to Seattle two years ago and were actually out there over my 22nd birthday so I ended up with a 27-hour celebration accounting for the time zones. But I digress, I mention our previous trip because we’d already done the “Seattle” stuff. We rode the monorail, visited the Space Needle, checked out Pike Place Market (and watched the fish throwing), wandered downtown and of course visited the first Starbucks. We also snow shoed on Mt. Rainier. So this trip we wanted to do new stuff.
Museum of Flight
Brad started looking into activities for our time in Seattle (he could moonlight as a budget-savvy travel planner!). The Museum of Flight was on our radar so Brad started researching it. He was comparing admission prices ($18) for adults and the options of City Pass, when he discovered that on the first Thursday of every month, Wells Fargo sponsors free admission to the museum from 5-9pm. The first Thursday of May happened to be the day after our arrival. Score!
Don’t get me wrong, the museum would totally be worth $18 a person but the savings were amazing. We got there are the start and worked our way through the museum, and it was Space Day so there were some extra features. Read the rest of this entry
Prepare for a Trip
I got back from Seattle a few days ago and am still kind of digging out. The time zone adjustment seemed like it’s be easy the first day back, but we were just exhausted from the trip home. It was a bit rougher this morning… I will share about my trip soon, but for now some tips for preparing for going away in case you need them.
How to prepare for a trip K-couple style:
- Make plans in advance to have your pets cared for. (a big, huge thanks to our friends who are fed, watered, scooped and pet for us).
- Make plans for the house. Our friends are also taking care of bringing in the mail for us.. otherwise there isn’t much that needs done.
Basket for mail + Thank you note
- Clean the house. I know that some people don’t get why it matters to clean the house before you go away, but a clean house makes returning from vacation a bit more pleasant. No dirty dishes, no overflowing hampers, swept floors… it’s nice.
- Pack. Our bags flew for free (whoo hoo!) so packing was not a stress. We’ve gone on week-long cruises sharing one roller bag before so having our own suitcases was a treat! Even though we each had a bag, we split up our clothing so some of Brad’s was in my bag and some of mine was in his, so that if one bag gets lost in transit we at least had a change of clothes. (Packing is easier if you make a list too.)
- Eat all of the food in the fridge. The last thing you want to do when you return home from a trip is have expired food sitting around. We plan out meals to use anything that will be bad by the time we get back. Before our trip out o Seattle, I accidentally bought milk that we didn’t need so I gave the new half-gallon to our kitty caretakers.
When I started writing this list, I thought it would be longer… but honestly the hardest part of preparing for a trip is figuring out where you’re going, how you’re getting there and wrapping things up at work before vacation (that proved to require more effort than I originally thought it would).
How do you prepare for a trip?
Related Posts:
Leavin’ On a Jetplane
Security
I know that yesterday I was nervous about security with my insulin pump. Of course when we arrived at the airport, they were sending everyone through the body scanners, so I politely requested the pat down from the TSA agent. She made three attempts to convince me to go through, “it’s radio waves. No more than using a cell phone or microwave,” she told me.
I explained that since it’s my health, I would like to be on the safe side and be patted down. After two refusals, she walked me over for a pat down. Overall it went very smoothly. She was fairly pleasant. I was offered a private screening and she explained to me everything she was about to do. Was is comfortable? No. Was it the worst thing ever? No.
While I was being close and personal with the TSA, she chatted with me about the weather and insulin pump. A family member of hers has had “childhood” diabetes for 33 years and uses “the newest insulin pump.” She totally understood the tubeless OmniPod and asked if I wore any other devices, so I showed her the Dexcom on my arm. She glanced at it and moved on.
So the verdict is that I survived. I basically got felt up and had someone’s hands in my pants (waistband). It’s over and I don’t have to go through it again for a week!
The Rules Read the rest of this entry
Pre-Flight System Check
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on an airplane. The last time was our honeymoon in June of 2011. That means… I have never flown since being diagnosed with diabetes… and I’ve never flown with a medical device.
I’m flying across the country tomorrow. Of course I got my ticket early enough to build up a massive case of nerves.
I’m excited to go back here.
The first thing I did though was email Lisa, who uses the same d-gear I do and has flown out of Cleveland before. Lisa was incredibly reassuring and answered my questions the best that she could and I felt better for awhile.
I stopped feeling better when Brad and I were planning out when we’d be going to the airport… then I started looking things up about policies for insulin pumps/CGMs when it comes to TSA. Long story short, there really aren’t any and it just becomes to luck of the draw for which agents I encounter. Beyond that research and reading travel recommendations (nothing that my doctor didn’t mention when we talked) I did probably the worst thing I could have done… I started reading flight stories. The stories that go online are usually the horror stories. Read the rest of this entry
Weepy
The picture that should have been on Friday’s post:
I love my trees and am so happy that the house came with them!
Despite the bit of snow we got over the weekend, we were out and about with a bunch of family things. We celebrated a birthday, heard my brother-in-law sing in his last high school concert and enjoyed having out of town relatives in our home.
I’m currently counting down the days until I’ll be in the Pacific Northwest!
What are you looking forward to?
Related Posts:
Friday Five: Things I Don’t Understand
Crazy Ohio Spring
Yesterday my car said it was 86 degrees on my drive home. The sun was shining and when I arrived home Brad was mowing the lawn and our weeping cherry trees had spontaneously blossomed. I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of the trees to show you all today, so look at the tree below and think about two of them that are about 4-feet-tall.
This is a weeping cherry tree {Image via Tree Facts}
Our house was actually quite hot inside so we switched on the air conditioning. Holmes and Watson curled up near the living room vent most of the winter so they were at first shocked to find the vents blowing cool air. Holmes sat with his nose to the vent for a good hour last night:
Real life has prevented me from blogging as much as I’d like to this week. Hoping for some more time to post next week.
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Friday Five: Reasons to love April
Things I’ve Learned About Pet Ownership
Apr 26
Posted by Probably Rachel
Holmes and Watson officially turned 1-year-old yesterday. Even though they found their home with us in August this is kind of a big deal, because they are no longer kittens… despite what they may think.
They think they’re helpful
Having pets as an adult is totally different than having pets as a child. When we adopted Holmes and Watson, we were prepared to be responsible for these creatures but there are some lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Read the rest of this entry →
Posted in Commentary, My Life
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Tags: adopt a pet, animals, cats, Friday Five, Home, Pets