As early as I could with ±200 days til commencement, I submitted my application for master's degree in Library & Information Science.
And, of course, bureaucracy being what it is, there were small glitches, but as of 10:30am CDT, the check is written and the myriad forms are submitted.
Now, all that remains is the work.
There is a strong risk of depression with diabetes, especially if one is older. I've seen links to reports lately, but didn't read them/it yet. But, I'm guessing that my low mood of late is some what attributable to my weight gain and poor eating, both of which I know are hurting me and putting me at greater risk for complications.
I try to think back to how frightened I was when I got the frantic call from my doctor's nurse in 2006, how well I immediately responded to the diet and lifestyle changes I knew I had to make... now, although I've only regained 10 of the 30 pounds I lost, and although I don't eat nearly as bad as I did, I still am not following the lifestyle that will keep me living well as a Type II diabetic.
I am so proud of my friend who has done so well with Weight Watchers recently. I don't, however, feel like I want to follow that program, either by attending meetings or enrolling online (if she lived here, perhaps, but she's 2 hours away). There are some other diet programs online but I can't justify the cost-use-benefit of those with fees, and others are not tailored to diabetic needs. So, I was happy to discover (which doesn't mean it's new, only that I just found out) the Meal Plan program at the One Touch Gold Tools. (One Touch is a brand of blood glucose testing meters from LifeScan. It is a free program, and though I haven't explored enough to determine its limitations, I am hoping it can provide me some incentive and positive feedback to get me back on course...
At the beginning of the year, I was at 150 lbs., looking forward to the 135-140 lb. range to get my BMI at recommended level. Because my A1C was consistently below 7%, my doctor reduced my daily medication by 50%. Perhaps I was eating too many carbs, but it seems like immediately I gained 10 lbs. My courseload and full-time work and 90-minute daily commute leave me with little time and less energy for even minimal exercise, and my overindulgence in carbs and reduction of protein and vegetables does nothing to help either. Honestly, it will sound strange, but we eat out less now than in the past few years, and I eat better when I eat out: salad, lean meat, low-glycemic vegetables, and rarely desserts. At home, I'm too lazy to fix proper meal and am more likely to grab something which is not necessarily bad, but definitely not as good and balanced.
So, not exactly back to square one, but feeling weary with what I need to eat and do. I return to the doctor in November; hope to have a chance to discuss it all. For now, I'll use the meal planning ideas and ranges on the OneTouchGold.com to try to get back on track.
Next thing I know, I'm googling for the LDS genealogy website, trying to remember my mother's paternal grandmother's maiden name (Loftin), and with a wicked interest, I search for the EX. Nothing on his first, surname and state combination, so I try his father's. What I do find is rather sad: his mother passed away in 1994, and his father in 2001... having only the dates and location leaves me wondering about causes. I have ideas. His father was the same age as my mother, and she died two years before him. His mother was three years younger and died five years before my mother. I never find any information about the EX or his sibs online -- not that I want to have contact, but curiosity being what it is and all... you know how it is.
Obviously, I did not leave the marriage hating my ex-in-laws, or I would not be saddened for him/his family about this. Ed and Sally were good to me, even though I feel they force the EX to choose between me and them -- often enough that is was one of the prime reasons why I left him.
So, many years late, I pause to remember them. There were good and fun times there in Dallas, though they are slightly overshadowed by the grief of a failed marriage.
(Wikipedia--that fount of accuracy--states there are two "flights" per year, but I don't recall having any but the late summer flight in past years. Oh well... you think you are driving in black flurries of snow, or through tiny dark hail pellets as you speed down the interstate.)And I had to call the insurance company today... Great. Now I'm so upset I can't think straight. Heaven only knows what kind of cataloging will result today... Dealing with our insurance company has been a surprisingly easy process every since Alcoa bought Eastalco and we began dealing directly with the insurer rather than the local company insurance handler. That is, until today. Both my sons and I have been dropped from health insurance coverage retroactive to May 2008. I am required to provide birth certificates, marriage license, tax return and enrollment verification for all three of us. NOTHING has changed with the insurance company or our status. We have been married for nearly 30 years, all of it while DH has been employed or retired with the same company; our sons are 24 years old, and still eligible for coverage. Or so I've been told every time I talked with them -- under 25 and full-time students. Until today. Now the smart-a$$ed ("You don't tell me, I'm telling you!") customer rep (and I use the term very loosely) tells me they also have to be claimed on our income tax. (Nevermind that they are, it's the point of never knowing that before.) I am just SO mad I feel like I'm going to explode. Her attitude, the whole inconvenience to me based solely upon the fact that THEY did a "retiree audit" in April. And most all the information is right there in their files! Marriage licenses and birth certificates!
Insulin for patients in need ($25)"Here's how your donations from Walk 2007 made a difference in many Mississippians lives:
Educational information for parents of newly diagnosed children with diabetes ($25)
Blood glucose testing strips for patients in need ($50)
Sending a family to Camp Kandu ($75)
Diabetic shoes for adult patients in need ($100)
WE Care 2 backpack for newly diagnosed child and family ($125)
Diabetes emergency box for a school ($150)
Screening supplies for 100 people ($250)
Diabetes Camp for one child ($400)
518 patients have received meters/strips, insulin, oral medication"Putting your donations to work. Our patient assistance program is our largest program in the state. Children and adults alike have benefited from timely donations of lifesaving insulin, oral medications, insulin pump and blood glucose testing supplies.
98 schools and school districts received the teacher education training and emergency boxes
45 children received camp scholarships to attend summer diabetes camp
Yesterday, actually, but the sentiment from "Funny Lady" is still worth noting.
You know it is going to be a bad Monday when...
you take the wrong club card into the coffee shop;you go back to the car to get the right one and then
you leave your credit card and have to go back to the car yet again;
you open the building door where you work and are hit with 90-degree heat;
you turn on the fan at your desk and discover if you get more than 18 inches away from it you are miserably hot;
you receive an email at 8:45am saying those in the hot part of the building should begin to see relief in 20 minutes and the thermometer in the coolest part of your hot part drops 1 degree (from 88 to 87) about 2 hours later;
....jumping ahead
you find a parking citation on your car on the first day of the new semester and wonder WTF happened to the two-week grace period on parking permits (on top of the fact that you are staff not student!);you just about get into an accident because the driver is hanging out his window "conversing" with some girls across the road and drives into your lane;
you stand in line at parking management with dozens of students who have had all day on campus but waited until a half hour before PM closes to try to get their permits only to find that your online registration -- which you did weeks ago -- did not go through and not only can't you get your permit today, you have to re-register online and there is also a line of students at the computers in PM;
your adjustment at the chiropractor's is a waste of time because you are so stressed from heat and aggravation and you hurt all night long once you finally get home;
you have seen two of the three episodes on the NCIS DVD which arrived in the mail and the next disc is marked "very long wait" in your Blockbuster queue;
. . .
however, your sweet husband fixes you comfort food for supper, you enjoy the one NCIS episode you haven't seen and one of the two you have seen anyway, you manage to turn the heel on your 1st sock for SOS 2008 (which ends in two days) without having to reknit, and your hand finally quits hurting so you can actually get a good night's rest...
time to face Tuesday. It's only 7:30am, but so far so good...
of my d-i-v-o-r-c-e is today... I can't explain why I always notice this event, but it was certainly a M - A - J - O - R crisis in my life.
If I'd paid more attention to my head and less to my heart, I might never have married him in the first place. But that's spilt milk, and I'm a big believer in the idea of life as a tapestry : pull one thread and the whole thing changes (or falls apart). Since I'm pretty happy with my life both at the moment and as a whole, I suppose I wouldn't take the opportunity if offered to go back and change it.
I don't have a photo of me coming out of court that day, my maiden name restored and that part of my life behind me, but I did previously post on this blog a photo of me on the "happy day" . . . exactly three years and five months earlier:
Somewhere, I think I still have the dress. And that precious child with me? She now has nearly-grown children of her own. grown groan
"All these books and not one 'inspirational'."
What a sad thing to overhear in the book aisle, don't you think? To have such a narrow definition of "inspiration" is very nearly sinful, imho.
For myself, I managed a small haul from the 80%-off sale on books (salvaged Borders inventory) at a local discount store:
Knitting by Anne Bartlett
Inca Trail: Cusco & MachuPucchu by Richard Danbury
Climbing the mango trees by Madhur Jaffrey
Lamb: the gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal by Christopher Moore
Wild Meat & the Bully Burgers by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
The diaries of Adam & Eve by Mark Twain
River Midnight by Lilian Nattel
... for the sons:
Simple foods for the pack: more than 200 all-natural, trail-tested recipes by Axcell, Kath & Cooke
Bobby Fischer teaches chess
and for hubby:
The New York City cab driver's joke book (vol. 2) by Jim Pietsch
Yesterday, being Father's Day, DH & I went to visit my dad. Son#1's name came up in conversation and Dad mentioned that he saw Son#1 on television news -- he's on the MS Coast with a group of anthropology students participating in an excavation of an old burial ground. This morning I checked the station's website, and sure enough, there's my boy working his little heart out...
There's probably a way to embedd the video, but I don't know it, so here's the link: Digging at a Biloxi Burial Site
He first appears in the background when the student in the pink shirt (Barbara) is speaking -- that's him in the tan shorts and black tank; later that's also him holding the tiny pieces of bone in the gloved and un-gloved hand, I think. Near the end there are a couple of shots of him working alone.
(Just a mother's pride! Whachagonnado?)
On a day full of odd happenings and even odder feelings, I received an e-mail from a distant friend which led me to her blog. There I saw on her sidebar, "You Need Some Purple in Your Life." Apparently, though she does, I do not:
| You Need Some Green in Your Life |
 And with a little green, you will project an aura of peacefulness and harmony. If you want stability, you've got to get a little green in your life! For extra punch: Combine green with blue or purple The downside of green: It can promote jealousy in yourself or others The consequences of more green in your life: You will be drawn to a new life path You will feel free to pursue new ideas and interests, no matter how strange You will be released from the demands and concerns of others |
a guilt-free Sunday!
Tomorrow begins finals week, but my exam was a paper due tonight at midnight. I submitted it (electronically -- I love the Web) last evening about 6:45 pm, and IM'd a classmate all I wanted to do was read fiction for a week! (Mini-session class begins on the 12th.)
Today began with mid-morning breakfast with my DH, a quick stop for groceries and prescriptions was followed by a short nap and then a visit to the library book sale. (Found myself a hardback copy of the Artist's way for a buck, among a few other prizes.) But, I did get to read some fiction today, The secret of jin-shei, by Alma Alexander. I'm only five chapters into it -- about 36 of 488 paes; not sure I'll stick with it, but so far it's at least interesting, so I'm giving it a chance. Not long ago I read Mistress of the spices by Chitra Divakaruni, and enjoyed it; should probably try to find some more of her books. Really, though, I only have a few days to indulge in fiction, then it's back to scholarly articles and textbooks.
(Neglected to publish this post, so it's about a two weeks old: written April 8th.)
I spent last week hobnobbing with the guest authors at our SLIS- & de Grummond-sponsored Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival: Pat Mora, Vicki Cobb, Gerald Hausman, James Ransome, Loris Lesynski, Will Weaver (and Kimberly Willis Holt was also a guest author, but I didn't get to spend time with her). I also had the opportunity to get to know men and women in that children's literature arena of librarianship, as well as interacting with SLIS staff and faculty in social and informal settings. I was on the go for three full days (and crashed hard over the weekend), but it was such fun. Beside the introductions for Vicki and Gerald, I mostly just "stuck like glue" and made sure they were where they should be when they should be, and just generally escorted them for the festival. I felt more like my *real* self than I have for a long time -- not that I understand why, but there it is.
I suppose that many people, attending a gathering of writers, get bitten by the bug to write, or if they already have been bitten, find themselves scratching furiously anew. I remember hating to write as a young person. What we had to write as assignments was rarely fun, even if the teacher tried to make it fun. Somewhere along the way, however, I began to enjoy the process. (Although I still fight tooth-and-nail to get assignments written on time!)
By the end of our trip last May to Tibet, I had an idea brewing for a book. I've shared the idea with a few people, and was pleasantly surprised when talking with two of the authors mentioned above that the idea was well-received. Of course, getting published is extremely difficult and highly competitive, and at this point, I simply want to get the idea out of my head, and onto paper! Ideally, it would be part of my master's project, but I'm still a L-O-N-G way from having all those details settled. I *was* looking forward to a summer off from classes. It would be the first since 2004 (and also different in that for the first time in three years I am not doing an international study trip). However, I was *not* looking forward to having to take my last 3-hour course at the same time I would be writing my master's project next spring! Ah, well . . . such is life . . . the professor from whom I took a mini-session course over the semester break last December will be teaching a graduate-level, full-summer course after all, so I've asked to be registered.
So, it is not only my dad's birthday, but Tax Day,too. Guess which one I have on more than one occasion forgotten??
I decided to save myself the $14.95 e-filing charge, and file paper copies of our taxes. I had to print the returns at the college computer lab because something's screwy with our printer = $.60 (which would have been $1.20 on the library printers). Didn't mind that expense . . . but then I had forgotten to run to the campus P.O. for stamps, so I had to get some here in town.
Of course, our P.O. closes at 4:30 pm weekdays, even on Tax Day. S'ok, except there is no longer a stamp machine inside. One mini-mart and two grocery stores later and I still hadn't found stamps. Now, you would think the grocery stores (the mini-mart doesn't sell them) would lay in an extra supply of stamps today. Surely this is not the first time they have been out before 5PM.
Found a stamp vending machine at another gas-mart. TWO DOLLARS & FIFTY CENTS for four stamps (retail value = $1.64).
I feel like I gave it 'a lick and a promise' as my mom used to say; that I probably didn't get as large a refund to which we are entitled. But, they are done, and in the mail . . . and I remembered to call my Dad, too.
Happy Birthday, Daddy!
“Either Tibet is open or it’s not. If it is, let independent monitors and the media go there. If it’s not, the torch shouldn’t go there either,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “The Olympic torch should not be turned into a smokescreen to cover up human rights abuses.”
"missing my mother so much I almost couldn't breathe [...] I need her to make me some cocoa and tell me that whatever's going badly in my life will sort itself out."
The intersession class ended tonight. It was a fast, but thoroughly enjoyable course. We focused on "social software" and its use and applications in library services. I almost wish there were an "Advanced Internet Resource & Applications" class.
Now it is time to gear up for the spring semster. Classes generally begin on Monday, however, it is also time for the mid-winter ALA meeting, and many of the SLIS faculty (along with some of our university libraries staff) are in attendance.
The only class for which I registered that I'm (fairly) sure will not change is the children't literature class. This one includes involvement with the annual children's book festival held on campus in April. After offering assistance to the professor, she asked if I would prepare a bibliography of recent work by the feature authors coming to this years festival.
I had already done a title search in our OPAC for my personal use (requirements for the course involve reading a good many children's books), so it should be a no-brainer... it's helping her by using my time to do it.
Until I hear from my advisor, I won't know about my other course(s).
After work, DH and I stopped by BestBuy to look at digital cameras. The one which was most tempting was out of stock and backordered. But I didn't really want to buy one tonight. Tomorrow I'll pull up the specifications for the three we liked best, and look them over. DH know about the film end of things, I know more about the computer stuff. I really need something better to take good digital photos. I want a skinny one, and I want one that takes SD cards, as I already have several 1Gb cards. That eliminates the Sony models -- and one of them we really liked. Memory Duo isn't that expensive, I guess... just wanted to make use of what I already have.
Time for bed, Bonzo -- sorry I'm too lazy to include links tonight. But at least I posted!
