I went to Mexico and I had a wonderful experience! It was so fun, that coming back to my part-time job as the Internship Coordinator at the University of Minnesota, my substitute teaching at Great River School, my side gig of helping people with their LinkedIn profiles combined with training for my 100-mile bike ride … Read more
If you know me you know that I am beyond excited to head to Mexico tomorrow! I was a Spanish major in college and I love, love, love speaking Spanish. I’m not all that good at it any more, but surrounding myself with people speaking Spanish is pure joy. I shift into a side of … Read more
Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Today has been known as the Winter Solstice for many, many years. I love today! It is the return of the sun!!! And I love the sun! To celebrate, I went to Underneath It All to get three new … Read more
Another year of a month of blue awareness comes to a close. It’s been a challenging month, but not because of diabetes. For me it’s because of the new president of the USA and because of the difficult challenge the native people at Standing Rock are facing. Our overall dependence on fossil fuel has made … Read more
It’s a few days before Thanksgiving and I am thinking about what I’m thankful for, maybe you can relate. Are you considering what you are thankful for? There’s lots I am thankful for: my amazing circle of friends, my snuggly loving dog Echo, my overall good health, to name the top items. I’m also profoundly … Read more
I told you last week that I started a 3-month journey of weight loss and increased fitness with diabetes. I successfully have logged my food intake for 8 days and I have joined the YWCA Maintain Your Weight program. I have lowered my basal rate by almost 15% and I am keeping my blood sugars … Read more
In May I broke my ankle, which radically altered my plan to ride my bike 100 miles a few weeks later. In fact, it interrupted my general fitness plans. Slowly and surely, my weight has creeped up. Not fun at all. I noticed how bad it had gotten a few weeks ago, when two pairs of my favorite pants no longer fit comfortably. Weight loss with type 1 diabetes is never a very easy problem to tackle.
At the end of the school year last year, I was invited to join the Adolescent 1 (A1) Odyssey trip that headed West starting the 3rd day of school. I agreed to jump on the Odyssey train, not really knowing what I was signing up to do. I love working at Great River School, the Montessori/International Baccalaureate 1st grade through 12th grade school at which I substitute teach and help out in other odd ways. I used to take groups of teenagers on all sorts of overnight adventures, so tent camping for 7 nights with 50 7th and 8th graders didn’t seem like that big of a jump in my experience wheel.
In May 2014, I went to see a shoulder orthopedic surgeon because of suffering more than 6 months with some terrible shoulder pain. It had come on suddenly and kept getting worse as the months went by. The physician took some x-rays and basically, because of having type 1 diabetes she diagnosed me with frozen shoulder. She sent me to physical therapy.
It is easy to get caught in the negative cycle of describing and feeling a difficult problem you have. With my diabetes, I spent years telling stories of how hopeless it was for me to avoid low blood sugars when exercising. I described, and over-described how awful it was to witness my father, who had … Read more