Coffee Flavored Kisses

Is fours years along time to be in denial?  Apparently not for me.  About four years ago, I was diagnosed as diabetic and put on medicine.  I tried to eat better and eventually lost about 30 pounds, but I hadn’t really changed my eating habits, work habits, or exercise habits.  I didn’t see it as a big deal.

About two months ago, however, it became a big deal as I was told my AIC levels were over 10 (which is very bad), and onto insulin I would go.  So I’ve been on insulin for two months, and that is helping.  For example, right before I started the insulin my sugar levels on waking up were in the 200s and would go up to the 400s when I ate. Now, they’ll start off in the mid 100s and on a bad day hit 230.  But it’s not just the insulin, it’s the taking it seriously that’s key.

One thing this has meant was to cut back on my teaching schedule.  Normally, I’d teach 6, often 7, classes a semester, and average about 90 - 100 students.  Some semesters I would have 2 night classes, from 6:30 - 9:30 pm, and once a semester, that night class would involved a 60 mile commute (round trip).  The stress of this, plus the bad eating schedule, plus the lack of sleep (often having to be back at class for 8 am) was making my diabetes worse, and I didn’t know it and ignored it.  It’s not a wonder that my only response to “How’re you doing?” was “tired,” I was slowly becoming exhausted.

This has lead to my taking this summer off and to having a slower schedule in fall with no night classes!  It also has me doing at least half an hour on the treadmill everyday, and another half hour on my newly purchased Wii Fit.  I am also eating better, if not perfectly.  I am learning to watch carbs and eat lots of greenery.  I’m learning sauteed mushrooms with a protein fill me up and don’t raise my sugars.  I have started keeping a food diary. Basically, I am relearning about food.  And I will still probably have to go up on my insulin dosage again.

But man do I still want my chocolate…

I have not taken a summer off from school since the summer Mike and I got together, which is 8 years now.  So this summer I decided I needed a break. I was feeling tired and burned out, and a bit abused.  I needed to recharge.

On top of that, I discovered that my diabetes was way out of whack as were my lipid numbers.  There were biological reasons for my burn out as well as mental ones. So summer off seemed a grand idea.

I’ve been off for two weeks, and I am starting to feel a bit at loose ends.  It’s not as if I don’t have stuff to do.  I need to reorganize my kitchen, and sort out the office.  I need to be looking for a shed or two for the backyard. Of course, none of that really appeals.

I do have things to go to.  I have a diabetes cooking class tomorrow, and Friday I have a brown bag lunch at the library for a book discussion.  Next Friday, I have to present the book discussion.  So I do have things to do, but I just feel so blah today.  I know it’s a today only thing, but still lethargy is strong.

I am sure I will eventually accomplish something today, but I sure don’t feel like doing anything, and you know that’s okay.

I’ve been out of school for about two weeks now, and I have read:

The Lost City of Z by David Grann; Lover Mine by J.R. Ward; The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan; The Fire by Katherine Neville; You Suck by Christopher Moore.  I am currently reading Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup and MIstress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin.

More to come

and for once, the living will be kind of easy.  I am off all summer–no teaching.  I plan to write, to read up in my field, to read junk, and to take care of my health, which has not been on the upswing.  My diabetes and my cholesterol numbers have decided to try to take me out, and I am fighting back.

I am prowling around looking for diabetic recipes, and trying to find things that keep my sugar from spiking. Now if only, I can drop my blood sugar down about 40 points to the normal level, and then keep it there!

And I shall try to start blogging again.

Hello, my name is Rosary and I am addicted to reading and to books.

I’m reading two books right now with about 9000000000 more to go.  Okay that last bit is a small exaggeration.

I read and finished The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle.  I enjoyed it a great deal.  It helped that I read it in conjunction with the first two Holmes novels The Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. I also saw the Sherlock Holmes movie.  May I say that between those readings and that movie there are a number of things Guy Ritchie got right in the film.  Things like secret societies, action, Watson’s character, Holmes’s eccentricities. So snap to the critics who have never done more than read the short stories or watch Basil Rathbone.

Right there are three books I’ve read. Now, I am also reading The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte.  I haven’t read Perez-Reverte in a while, but I have found this book intriguing and fascinating. A thriller with a rather cynical priest/politician as the central hero the book deals as much with the thriller plot (who is trying to destroy the church? who hacked the pope’s computer?) as it does with the meaning of faith and the connections between place and faith.  I have his The Nautical Map to read.

I also started reading a book called Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, and Oliver Reed. I’ve not made a decision about it, but it doesn’t really seem to be a book for those who disapprove of boozing.

I’ve got The Heart is a Lonely Hunter to read for the college’s Big Read project.  I lead the community book discussion on Feb 11 over the first part–I know what I’ll be focusing on.

The to read list is huge and includes one Jonathan Kellerman, 2 Lillith St Crow’s (schlock but fun), a book on the building of the Effiel Tower, a book on the history of coffee, and House of Mirth, and 2 books about teaching, and coming soon in the mail Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter which is actually on backorder. Yes, backorder. So my reading addiction is has enough to fill it, but you and I both know there will be more to come.

The semester has begun, and I expect to be in full swing next week.  Once I get over whatever has tied my digestive tract into knots.

I was scheduled for 6 classes, but only 5 have made.  Technically only 4 have made, but the 5th one will probably remain because I have to have 5 classes to make my course load.  This is the first time in I don’t know when that I have only had 5 classes.  I already feel some stress leaving me. (I am used to 6 or 7).  I don’t even have a night class, which feels so good.

I plan to read and exercise with this free time–once I get my body clock readjusted to school.I also hope to write more, but at the moment, the knots in my stomach are laughing at me so I shall run off.

With the lovely Arctic blast of cold hitting us, I made soup last night.  It was a bit more spicy than I normally make, but it was good.

I used:

two tbsps of canola oil

one roll (or one pound) of Italian seasoned ground turkey

1/2 bag of frozen seasoning mix (or onions, peppers, celery, and parsley)

1 can of Cannelloni beans

1 cup of rice

1 small can tomato sauce

1 box of Chicken broth

1 can corn

I browned the turkey in the canola oil, then added the frozen seasoning mix to that.  I let that mix sweat together for a bit.  Then I added the can of beans.  I let the mixture meld together.  The I added a cup of rice, and let it “toast” with the other ingredients.  Then I added the chicken stock and the tomato sauce.  I let that simmer until the rice was cooked through.  Then I added a can of corn. Yummy.  I used salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and paprika.

and this was my present. I adore it!

So another year ends, and another one begins. some things that I would like to achieve in 2010:

more writing. I need to write more; I miss writing of all sorts. I may even have the time for it this year!

improve my teaching. I always need to keep working on this. The day I think I’ve perfected it is the day I better quit.

cook more. I love to cook. If I do nothing more than make soups all year, I will have done something healthier than usual

exercise more. I love my treadmill and should use it more.

read more. Then again, I read a lot now

have more fun. Wait, if I cook more, write more, and read more–won’t I be having more fun?

contribute more to my community.

I think mostly it boils down to the PBS motto: Be more!