Green disks and other parenting practices

This one is for Amanda, and I'm turning it into a tag because I learn so much when I find out how people raise their kids. This post is about chores, allowances, and attitude and how I deal with them for now--it's always evolving.

In October 2007 I went to my first Hearts at Home conference, a conference for moms. I was excited to go get "mom training." After all, I spent fours years in college for teaching, and I only did that for three years. The only mom training I'd been through was more labor training and infant care, than true mom training. I loved the conference. One of the workshops was called Winning the Chore War. The speaker wasn't helpful until the last five minutes. She had this chore chart which I fell in love with. It had pegs and pictures of chores and names and times and ways for dealing with attitude. I loved it. I could have made my own, but it wouldn't be as durable and I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't do it anyway. I spent $60 on that chart and the accessories and while I still cringe to type the figure, I would do it again. It's been worth it if only to have access to the chart and to make myself think through these things.

I am continually evolving how I use my chart, but the one constant has been the green disk system. Constant meaning I continually intend to use the green disk system; my actually consistency has room for improvement. The chore chart lists the daily and weekly chores: put your clothes away, put your school stuff away, put your toys away, set the table (3-4 times a week) or clear the table (3-4 times a week), put clean folded clothes away. New chores we just added: sweeping 3-4 times a week, making beds. My intention is to eventually work myself out of job. I probably won't ever make my girls do all the housework at once every often, but I want them to learn all the tasks so they can be independent and responsible. Once they actually get good at sweeping, I might start teaching them to clean the sink, etc. and take sweeping off the list for a while.

Chores at my house are a requirement, part of obedience, part of being a member of the family. They are not optional which is why allowance is not tied to chores. I don't want my girls to reach age 14 and get so much money from babysitting that they think they don't need their allowance so they stop doing chores. Allowance is also part of being in our family and a big part of how I teach my girls about money. They each have a large plastic bank with three compartments--one for giving, one for saving, and one for spending. Currently the girls each get half their age in allowance. I read once that kids should get their age in allowance, but that's too expensive for us right now. The girls have to save some and give some, though they get to choose where they give. The spending money is up to them though I've been giving H more forced choices lately. Like yesterday, a friend invited H to the gymnastics place for a open play time. The cost was $6.50 and I made H spend her own money if she wanted to go. I also made the girls spend their own money to buy each other gifts this year. And for gymnastics lessons, H wanted a new leotard. I told her I was paying for the lessons, she could buy the leotard. And she did. The only thing I haven't figured out is what they are saving for...college, the distant future,.....Tom and I need to work that detail out.

And the green disks? They are for attitude. At any given time, the girls have behavior goals: to stop whining so much, to react with respect when corrected, to answer adults when they ask a question, to complete chores with a happy heart. The goals are unique to the child and the time and I change them whenever it seems appropriate. If a goal is met, the girls get a little green disk to put by their name on the chore chart. Five green disks equals a privilege. We have a privilege jar, I usually find six choices that I can deal with at the time and let them pick which one they want. The privileges range from fun: private bike rides with dad, wrestle time, pillow fight (things we should do but often forget), extra stories at bed time, get out of chores for the day to treats: pick your favorite fruit at the store, pick your favorite cereal, get a pop, get a tattoo, paint your nails and toes with the special glittery nail polish, etc. The TV cart at Mejier used to be a favorite privilege when they were younger. You get the idea. Sometimes I add or subtract privileges to the jar, like when I found a backpack of Littlest Pet Shops at Aldi for cheap, I added Pick a Pet Shop to the privilege list. I also give green disks to reward kindness....helping when no one asks, sharing something that is hard to share, or having the idea to call a friend who was home sick. They are not allowed to ask for disks but sometimes, they perform for acts of kindness for them. I generally acknowledge the acts anyway, I want kindness and sharing to be a habit. (Lately, Hadley likes to make my bed..the first time I gave her a disk even though I knew why she made my bed. The second time, I told her she had to add one more helpful thing to the bed making...she put some of my dirty clothes down the laundry chute!). And I never take a disk away. This system is for rewarding things done well, and even if in five minutes H is rolling her eyes at me, her accomplishment still stands. Generally the green disk system is super flexible, reusable, and easy for me to manipulate as the girls grow and change.

So blogging friends, I tag you. What do you do about chores, allowances, and reinforcing good behavior? Stephanie? Tracie? Amber?

Overheard

Glucometer readings are not too exciting so I thought I would post again. This time about H, who is thrilled to have her first wiggly tooth. She is one of the last kids in her class to get a wiggly tooth, and is bouncy excited. I think she has said, " I love my wiggly tooth" about 25 times today. And since K took all the quotes, last time, here are some gems from H, who as a reminder is 6 1/2.

Me: H do you know how long mommy and daddy have been married?
H: no
Me: Eleven years.
H: That's not very long. I thought you would say like 100.


H: Mommy, do you like to go swimming?
Me: Not really, I always get cold.
H: You should like swimming because you can pretend to be a mermaid.

H: Mommy, can you open this banana for me?

As H sunk under the warm bathtub water with a contented smile she whispered, " I love my new water heater!" A child after my own heart.

Here's one from K, our 4-year-old that I don't want to forget so I'll add it on.
K:I always (pause) almost, sometimes eat my dinner don't I mommy?

Numbers

A day late. Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, I didn't forget Amanda--just ignored it. I've been procrastinating. Why check my numbers when they don't make sense? (they were all great this week). Why check them when there is no one on the other end giving me feed back? I know I make you groan. I know I am missing the point. Logic doesn't always penetrate feelings. I only did four readings this week, and two of them were yesterday. It's good to know that a couple of you noticed my missing numbers. If you hadn't I might be tempted to give up. How long does it take to form a habit?
Fasting 115, 127 (this is the easiest one for me to remember to take so I did it twice)
Breakfast 106 (two flax and fig waffles with just butter and 1/2 a grapefruit)
Lunch skipped
Dinner 119 (pork chop, peppers, 1/2 cup of sliced roasted potatoes, 3 cups of buttery popcorn...I really thought this number would be higher)

I also took one about three hours after breakfast one day because I felt so weird...it was low, for me anyway, 82, a little fruit restored my energy and my sense of balance.

Dec 27

I woke up this morning to low rumblings of thunder, rain, and fog. There was also a roof leak in the mud room ( yes from the new flat roof ). And the good news: sugar-free truffles and a love note from my hubby in honor of our 11th anniversary. We'll go to dinner when our free babysitters are back in town!

Progress?

T is competitive. That statement is so plain and simple. Those who know T are probably laughing, because while the statement is true, it feels restrained. But he is growing.

When we were dating, I was visiting his family home for Christmas. T and I were playing a card game called Mil Bornes. There isn't much strategy involved, mostly luck. But I cleaned his clock, twice. He stormed out the room without a word. I had never seen an adult display such behavior. I play to have fun. T thinks games are boring if you don't win.

On our honeymoon, which was a cruise ship, we would play ping pong and whenever I was ahead, he would use psychological tactics to break my concentration and I would lose. Every time. As an only child who never had any athletic or musical talent, competition wasn't part of my life. He made me angry.

So as a general rule, I found it healthiest if T and I didn't play games together. At least not just the two of us. If we found ourselves in a social setting that required game playing. I did my best to be on the other team so I could avoid the looks and the comments that said, "You did what?" Regardless of the game or the sport, T's team usually won. He just has that killer instinct.

Thus went the first 10 years of our marriage. And now there is this year. T still wins most things. But there are changes. We have found a few games like Tri-Bond (thanks Amanda) where we actually like being on the same team. T has toned down his competitive language around me. And he let's the girls "beat" at foosball often. We all know that he let's the losing occur, that the score would be 10-0 if T wanted, but he uses his almost daily game with the girls to develop his foosball finesse. I am certain he would have been unable to let the girls win just three years ago.

I've changed too. I didn't have a competitive bone in my body until I married T. Now the only person I really want to beat is T. And it happens about once in a while, more frequently lately! I beat him twice at pool over Thanksgiving. And today all four of us went bowling, T was snidely saying things like, "That's what I like to see" when I would throw a gutter ball or knock down only three pins. It was odd behavior, given that Tom is usually so far ahead of me in bowling that he only watches my score to see if H will beat me. But I looked up in the eighth frame and I was winning. I could easily win. I was going to win. But I didn't. I needed to knock down more than four pins in the final frame and I choked. We tied (for the record, it was like my third highest score ever). These days, I've found my competitive spirit--to beat Tom---at anything. And it's fun.

Merry Christmas

It's quiet. The sun, yes that glorious ball of light, finally came out for this day. How appropriate. It's just the four of us. I miss our families. And I don't. I like these moments--just us. T doesn't have any friends who have time to need him, and no pressing work. The girls have no activities. We went to a movie, made bracelets, opened presents and have just been together. T and the girls are outside playing. Bowling and ice skating are still on the list. And while I savor the togetherness I think of two of our grandmas, alone for the day, and countless others for whom today is a day like any other. And I long to reach out...wish I could bridge the distance and offer the joy of watching of my kids squeal through each step of this day. And finally a new feeling this Christmas, a strange one that is a testament to community through technology, before I start cooking I felt a need to check in with my blogging friends and family and say, Merry Christmas.

Desperate and then sort-of disappointed

Most people have addictions. There are the obviously dangerous ones like drugs and alcohol. Then there are others like Mountain Dew, coffee, tea, television, video games, or, gulp blogging. The saying about things being good in moderation can apply to almost anything. I think addictions can take away from our reliance on God because generally addictions are opiates, escapes from the daily grind, or the daily worries.

I used to be addicted to baths. It was a winter time addiction only. I would get so cold. And the the bathroom had locks. I could escape into a warm tub of water and read, letting my husband handle the issues in the other world. Many a book or magazine of mine has ended up wrinkled and warped due to wet hands. I used to take a bath about once a day. Then we moved here.

The water heater in this house won't fill the bathtub. There is nothing like a lukewarm bath to cure a bathing addiction. I was so desperate the other day for a bath, that I heated water in my biggest stock pot and carried the pot up the stairs. Wiping the splashes off the wooden stairs with my socks, I dumped it in the tub and enjoyed a bath in this house for the first time (we moved in a year and half ago). Last winter I used to pray that the water heater would break so we had to get a new one--God has answered in the affirmative now.

The water heater isn't broken but my prudent husband has decided it has to be replaced. We found the date of installation with a flashlight the other night. It is 31 years old. The people who install water heaters have never heard of one that old ( perhaps another day I will rant on how disturbing it is that now they make water heaters to last only about 12 years). The experts advise shutting the water heater off if we go on vacation because a heater that old will burst suddenly and flood the basement. They said it isn't filling the tub because there is probably a foot of mineral deposits in the bottom of the tank, taking up space. Rather than waiting for a flood and an emergency, we have decided to replace it.

My grandma sent a generous check to us for Christmas which will cover about half of the water heater. I had been dreaming of a new, used desk with that money, and maybe a chance to finally paint the walls of this house beautiful colors, but as usual practicality wins. I don't really need a new desk and thank goodness there hasn't been a flood. Since moving into this old house we replaced the roof, the flat roof, the furnace, the central air, the garage roof and now the water heater. We still have the original windows and an old stove. While sometimes I imagine decorating my house the way I want, which would require us to stop doing so much maintenance, I doubt I could ever fall in love with new construction. I have no regrets. I love the detail of this old house, not just the trim, but the secret pencil markings charting the growth of someone else's kids.

God is constantly reminding me that I have everything I need and more, and so much of what I wish for is unnecessary details. I love this house, white walls and all. And soon I will be able to take a bath again. Thanks God--you are so good. Thanks grandma.

Numbers

What a tough week to be diabetic. I go somewhere, or someone comes here, and there they are. The cookie plate. Cookies everywhere. If you are trying to diet, you know the issue. Yum, they look beautiful. And I had to make cookies this week for K. And I found that great recipe I wrote about yesterday. The dough and the cookies for K were delicious. I finally had to start chewing gum to keep from eating the dough. I tried to balance things out by eating mostly protein for meals so I could have a cookie here and there. I did ok. Except for Thursday. That was a bad day for sugar intake. So here's all the numbers. This week should be better...we don't have anywhere to go, which is good for blood sugar, not so great on my spirit. I start to miss my family.

Fasting 140

Breakfast 130 (Special K protein plus with cow's milk and sugar-free hot chocolate)

Lunch 145 (Tilapia, broccoli, 1/2 grapefruit, cottage cheese and too many wheat thins)

Dinner 151 (white chili, green beans and carrots, a clementine and a pumpkin muffin)

When I get so many numbers this close together sometimes I wonder if the meter is stuck. Usually a high or low will follow soon though. When I go see the doctor I should bring in my meter so they can test its accuracy, just because it hasn't been done in two years.

Oh and Kris... I ignored your demands=). You have to call me, like you said you would, and then maybe I will listen to you...

After Two Years of Duds

It snowed another 3 inches or so last night. Now the wind is whipping around and it is penetrate-the- down- jacket cold. The paper this morning said to expect more of the same for the rest of winter, which officially starts today (it started a month ago in my mind). I would be relaxing with something warm except my girls are out there, liable to be blown away, laughing as they climb up a snow mountain and then slide down. So I write and glance out the window and write some more. It reminds me of Christmas flavors and sights and sounds. Hot chocolate and cookies, blustering snow. Like the movies. My Christmases have rarely been this snowy.

And then I remembered my discovery. I want to share a recipe with my dear friends who have food issues. I've searched and never found a chocolate chip cookie recipe worth my time that was gluten-free. They always taste sandy, and are unpleasantly thin, like a wafer--not at all what I crave when thinking of a cc cookie. But my dear friends I found one. And gluten-eating folks, who don't even know what gluten is, eat these and say, "Yum." It took me a while to make this recipe as I didn't have Teff flour. Never even heard of it. I have sorghum, tapioca, rice, corn, potato, buckwheat, and amaranth flours. But not Teff. Turns out teff is the smallest grain in the world--so small they can't remove the bran and the germ so it's a great source of fiber which can be lacking in those starchy gluten-free flours. Buy some teff friends and try these cookies, they are worth it. Oh and the recipe calls for muscovado sugar, which is an unrefined dark brown sugar that gets its color from the sugarcane rather than from adding molasses to white sugar. But I just used normal brown sugar, it was still delicious. And the recipe? It is at the bottom of this long post on Shauna James's blog. You don't need to read the story behind the recipe, it is long. But Shauna is a a writer that I admire. Her phrasings are beautiful and she inspires me, the reluctant cook, to get in the kitchen. Enjoy. Merry Christmas to my gluten-free friends! Amanda will you tell Laurie?

Strange facts of the day:
It's been snowing now for 7.5 hours straight.
Brad pitt is 45 today. Shocker.

Christmas break survival

For my mom friends: I loved this post by Jill Savage on the Hearts at Home blog. It inspired me to make some Christmas break plans especially since we are not going anywhere and no family is coming up. Check it out. Oh and if you will be around, you are welcome to join us anytime!

Love

Our old computer just quit one day. No warning. It just wouldn't turn on. It wasn't a big deal because my grandma had given us her laptop and most of the time that's what we were using anyway. There is one document on there though that I want, am desperate about. I swear I saved it to a disk when we moved from Montana, but I can't find it. I thought I had emailed it to myself for safety, but I can't find it. I need a data retrieval expert.

This weekend, I moved the computer desk into the mud room in the back of the house. Our mud room is a large room, much too big for a mud room. But it's location, and the giant closet, make it a mud room no matter how we furnish it. It's a good room for a computer. A good room to write in. Big and sunny. Even though I liked working on the couch and even though it amused my friends that we stored the laptop under the couch, I like having the desk here. Flanked on either side of the computer are pictures of the girls- so even as they sleep and I blog in the quiet evening hours, I am reminded of my love for them.

And tonight I am overwhelmed. Maybe it is because I've spent three days at home with both girls, going no where, snuggling, wiping feverish brows, spooning up broths, and watching the normally wiggly little bodies, curled up on the couch, sleeping. When they wake up, rosy- cheeked, matted hair, tendrils of new curls around their face, they are the most beautiful children in the world. I am overwhelmed by the intensity of this love that exists for my children. They are so special and my heart aches when I realize that to most other people, they are just children. And forever I will desire for the world to see how special they are, to see what I see. I desire for them to see what I see, how every detail of who they are was known and created by God for a reason. I have never been so sure of God's hand in creation as I am in my children. How blessed I am to be their mother.

Sometimes, in these moments of overwhelming love, I wish I could capture them because I know my memory will fail, and not just of old age. Already the images, smells, developments of their infanthood exist mostly in what I have recorded in word or image. Those moments of life slip away from my memory like a freshly caught fish. I suppose if I could hang on to all of those memories, it might be too burdensome to move on, to follow Paul in " forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead." Either I would wallow in the past difficulties or yearn for the past pleasantries. But God has given me some skill with words and for month after month for almost five years I captured the intricacies of their developing personalities in words-- Like my posts a few weeks ago about each girl. And currently those writings are lost in that old computer. Maybe I am not meant to have such treasures, but maybe their is a skilled computer dude who can rescue them. Do you know any?

The arrival

H woke up yesterday morning sick--fever of 101 and a little cough. She laid around most the day, took some ibuprofen about 1 and seemed fine for the rest of the day. then this morning the fever was back and she only got off the couch to go to the bathroom. She missed her Holiday concert (but she didn't want to go anyway--too nervous to sing in front of an audience---she didn't even have a solo--just serious stage freight). K got a fever some time this afternoon. Hers isn't as high and she isn't sleeping as much, just whimpering a lot. I'd prefer the fever to a degree higher so she would sleep more. Two down. Hopefully not two to go.

Numbers

This week is a great example of why I need the accountability of my blogging friends. I put off all testing until yesterday and did it all in one day. And added one more fasting reading this morning. I wouldn't have done my testing at all if it wasn't for dear people who check in on Mondays. In fact, yesterday I didn't really like you. I wished I hasn't made this commitment. I know, it's good for me. And I really do like you.

There is something about winter, my blood is fickle. If the mention of blood makes you queasy, skip to the number. Sometimes when I prick my finger it comes out all watery, runny and hard to capture on that little stick. Other times, the pricker, which usually doesn't hurt much at all, will leave a poke that smarts for days. Or sometimes the little tiny prick won't stop bleeding and I won't notice and will get blood on some important paper. And then two times yesterday for some reason I couldn't get a reading so I had to do to two pokes for one reading. Poor me! I sound like my whiny children. Sorry.

Hadley was down with a fever yesterday as I took all these readings. It ended up being a high carb day as I was a cleaning fool and went with the quick food and the leftovers. The living room is rearranged and all the bathrooms are clean. Plus, my poor decision to allow the kids to have fun in the packing peanuts the day before required multiple rounds of vacuuming. And I am still finding little pieces of styrofoam here and there. I should have taken a picture though because those little styrofoam peanuts static cling to all parts of a child's body--we even vacuumed their hair!

Here are my numbers
Fasting 162 yesterday, 116 (today)---I can't explain the 116...it's great but very inconsistent with my other fastings--what was different?
Post-breakfast 115 (hot oat bran with Splenda, milk, walnuts, and blueberries)
Post-lunch 164 (6 pizza rolls, cottage cheese)
Post-dinner 158 (salad with cucumber, lettuce and Italian dressing, homemade mac and cheese with brown rice noodles)

Christmas Tree

I have been tagger. For those who don't blog, the idea of a tag is get your blogging friends to answer certain questions to post certain kinds of pictures. This tag was for a picture of our Christmas tree. It's artificial and purchased last year from my neighbor who couldn't get rid of it at her summer garage sale! It's actually the perfect height and nice and narrow, great for our living room. I do love the smell of a real tree, but this one is kinder to our budget. Most of our ornaments are made by the girls and most of them are stars, since that is what shepherds and learned men followed to the baby Jesus. I do love my tree, but I don't get its connection to Christmas, just seems like a fun thing to do. Without further ado, here is my tree (revealing the fact that I still have no curtains in my living room), and two of the ornaments the girls made this year.

Nuances of Behavior

When K started playing soccer, I was struck by discrepancies in parents' language. Four-year-olds have been told most of their life---share, don't grab, don't be rough. Then we put them on the soccer field and start telling them to steal the ball, don't let that other girl get the ball, break through the mob(aka be rough). One girl on K's team last fall consistently cried early in the season because the other girls weren't sharing. Well honey, I'm afriad the rules change in a few select environments.

Soccer isn't the only place where our carefully taught lessons run amuck. I remember when H was toddling, she kept sharing her sippy cup with other kids. I wondered how confusing it was for her to have me praise toy sharing and yell "NO!" with sippy cup sharing.

And this morning H accused K of lying, K was playfully poking H when her back was turned and then denying the poke. H was mad because she knew K had poked her. I tried to explain that adults play this game, they will tickle a kid or hide a toy behind a back and claim to have no part in the event. Than they do it again when the child's not looking. It's more like playing a trick than lying I told H. Often, adults push these games just to the point of upsetting a kid. Why do we do this? I rethought my answer and my many admonitions to stop doing something if your sister doesn't like it, and the line or appropriateness is very faint, perhaps a bit mobile and so hard to explain.

Hand in Mouth

H is 6 1/2. She still puts things in her mouth constantly. Small plastic toys, nasty rubber bands, food that has been there for days, her fingers, her clothing and she would eat her hair if it was long enough. She picks her nose. She digs in her ear and today she confirmed my suspicion that she has been biting her fingernails. Way too many bad habits. I've explained the hygiene aspect of it. But she doesn't really care. I could punish the behavior which might get her so she only does it in private. But I don't love that idea. These habits are so gross and the longer they are done the harder they are to stop. Can I help her now? How do we stop these awful habits? Or do I have to wait until she wants to stop them? Any suggestions?

The Christmas Spirit

It's been many years since I have actually enjoyed Christmas. It bothers my conscience. I love the idea of Christmas, think the cookie baking and the present giving are fun. But I struggle because Christmas is about a small baby born in Bethlehem who forever changed the relationship we can have with God. Supposedly. So why do celebrate in such a way that encourages my children to be greedy? Why does almost everyone, regardless of their beliefs, celebrate Christmas in the same way in this country? So every year I struggle. How do I make this meaningful? Can I redeem the the value of this holiday or is it too entrenched in American lore and materialism?

I've read books like Lisa Whelchel's ADVENTure of Christmas which gives history of all the the little things we do and tries to bring meaning to them. Each year we package shoe boxes for kids in impoverished countries. We usually adopt a family or individual off the United Way list and bring them gifts. Still, in my heart, I doubt the once a year show of generosity or the lavish decorations pleases God at all. I suspect that the mad rush to the mall in the name of Christmas sickens Him since we claim it is done in His honor. Much Christmas giving is an excuse to acquire more stuff and to keep up with the neighbors.

Last week I finished Marjorie Holmes' book Two from Galilee. It's a fictional book first published more than 30 years ago about Mary and Joseph. Using historical research she tells the story of their lives, how they came together, their thoughts as each had a messenger from God appear and deliver the news of Jesus's coming. I don't always love these Biblical fiction books. I forge the Biblical account and the fictional account together, more in my thinking than in my action. The fiction forever shapes my ideas, though I will it not to. All the same, this book delivered peace to my Christmas-wary heart this season. I can't stop thinking about Mary, as a mother, the incredible scriptures about the messiah weighing in her heart and wondering how this precious, nursing baby could be destined for so much pain. About birthing a baby in a stable and then, days later having wise men come to worship the infant and then advise us to flee, from all that is familiar, to Egypt. I am able to relax, find awe in those once-dreaded-for-their-over-use carols, and worship. A calmness has replaced my usual Christmas tension. The way Christmas is celebrated hasn't changed, but somehow, incredibly, I have.

We try to decorate our tree with ornaments that relate to the Christmas story: stars, hearts (since Jesus was indication of God's love), angels, donkeys, etc. The girls were gleeful decorating this year, captivated by the sparkling lights and the shimmery glass angels (which they keep breaking because they won't stop fingering them). I had to remind myself as grabby fingers made chaos of my neatly organized Christmas box that the decorations are not for a magazine cover shoot, but for meaning. So if my organization is lost as the girls grab ornamnents and imagine angels blowing tumpets for the shepherds, so be it. So if that means foregoing the usual placement of the nativity scene on the mantle, for an awkward corner chosen by my young girls who are eagerly looking for the baby, so be it. This year, my greedy, object-loving H is beginning to demonstrate some of the Christmas war herself as she marvels at the baby and animal slaughter his birth stopped but still can't wait for the presents. I am thankful for the struggle.

May your Christmas activites remind you of the wonder.

Battle preparations?

It's coming. The cold/flu season. Many friends have already fought round one. Generally, my immediate family makes it into January without too many illnesses. And then January-April is one long list of illness, if not in my family, in the people around us. Lots of Kleenex, cold remedies and cancelled activities. I am thankful I live in a place where summer mostly wipes the germs away. When you have small kids, summer, with its minimal illness, is a lifeline. I'm watching the drug store sales, preparing for future battles. Maybe this year I can avoid any late night trips for the cough medication that isn't on sale. The superstitious side of me, whose existence I deny, wonders if actually writing this post is like inviting the germs to come invade.

Numbers

I shouldn't post on Mondays. I am too busy. I managed to get all my readings this week and an extra one too. Since my diagnosis, I tend to follow about a six-month pattern: add a medicine, numbers are close to target range, but never fully there. Then one day, or maybe one week, they shoot up again. And the medicine needs to be changed. I think I may have hit that point as my fasting has been hovering in the 120s for months now and suddenly went up. The fasting is the one reading that the food I consume should have no impact on. After all, if I haven't eaten, my blood sugar shouldn't be high, or so it seems. I will get my twice-a-year lab work done in about two weeks; Then I will probably have a doctor's appointment. And when I record my food below, know that I am always drinking water.
Fasting 142, 151 ( took two since the first was higher than expected)
After breakfast 85 (used to be breakfast was when my body could tolerate only a small amount of carbs, but looks like I need to up my carb intake at breakfast. That won't be hard. This breakfast was a bowl of Special K protein plus cereal. )
After lunch 123 (two turkey dogs, half an apple, carrots, and a wasa cracker with cream cheese)
After dinner 186 (chicken breast, 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 pear, broccoli--I was disappointed in the high number here. I thought the menu was good...I need to stick to about 45 g of carbs per meal I guess.)

Customer Service

I am sitting on my couch in a giant patch of sunrise. It feels divine. =)

I like going to the little Ace Hardware a few blocks away. It is a small store, crammed with more than a hardware store is expected to carry. You walk in, usually a man greets you, you tell him what you want. He knows exactly where it is, how it works, the differences between the brands they carry, and if you might need anything else to make it work. He then asks you if you need anything else. If it heavy, and you are small like me, he'll carry it to the counter and then to my car. I feel like royalty, well-serviced and surrounded by experts.

I feel fortunate in most stores if a salesperson can be found. The Target here though has somehow upped my customer service expectations--at least when I go in the middle of a weekday. Most of the time, I see women in red all around. Many times, they ask me if I am finding everything. Nice.

Monday, I bought Hadley a new leotard at Target. More accurately, I bought it with her money. She was starting gymnastics Tuesday and the deal was, if I pay for the lesson, she had to buy the leotard. I found a cute leotard in her size for $17.99. She had $30 in allowance and early Christmas money. It was black, with pink velour cap sleeves and two hearts on the chest made out of jewels. Definitely worthy of Fancy Nancy and Hadley's Oh la las.

Monday night I couldn't find the leotard. So I returned to Target Tuesday hoping the forgotten bag would be at the costumer service counter. They didn't have it. And strangely I had the receipt (usually I keep them in the bag).
"Oh I must have put it on top of my car and drove away. It's not your fault." I told the worker who looked worried the bag had been misplaced. She hurried away to consult a higher up. Upon her return she said, "Go ahead and get another one and bring it up here."
I wonder if my jaw dropped open. My best guess is I put the first leotard on top of my car while buckling Kassy and then never grabbed it again. Target had no obligation to replace that leotard. What a great surprise.

Mr. Golden Sun

I am trying to complain less, to thank and praise God more. I am not succeeding. Hidden complaints invade my speech each hour I am realizing. And yet, when I consider my life and all that I have been given, praises should reign in my speech. All the same, if you live here and have seen our weather you will understand this silly song that I keep lifting up as a prayer (another veiled complaint right there). Maybe you will join me.
Mr. Sun, sun Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me. Lord, remove the clouds and send the sun.

Wisconsin Dells

Thanksgiving 2008. We left last Tuesday night and drove to Rockford to see my parents. We had a lovely meal Wednesday afternoon with enough food to feed 15 (there were 6 of us). I liked the pheasant the best. The girls had a blast running around the house. I relished hearing Kassy patter upstairs Wednesday morning at 6:15am to find Grandma and Grandpa's room so she could start jumping on the bed. I also got pleasure from teaching my girls to swat at Grandpa's newspaper while he was trying to read it.

We left Thursday about 11 to drive to Wisconisn Dells. We managed to surprise Grandpa Chris for his 60th birthday and the girls were bouncing with excitement when they saw their cousin, Eva. All 11 of us stayed in a lovely cabin at Wilderness Resort, with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a grill, and a washer/dryer. The resort had three indoor water parks and a four-story play place for dry kids. All of these places proved to be a ton of fun. We were so proud of Kassy for overcoming her fears and going down the big tube slides with us. It was a true victory for our fearful little girl. I think Great Grandma even enjoyed watching the chaos. Pam (my mother-in-law) and Tricia (my sister-in-law) did a great job of bringing food, snacks and even Thanksgiving dinner. What a fun trip. The drive home, with the snow, proved to be exhausting. We love Wisconsin Dells though it was odd to see hotels, condos and fancy houses surrounding a giant, grassy, ditch which used to be Lake Delton. The lake drained late last spring during the floods when a strategic dam broke. Supposedly they will start filling the lake this spring, I wonder how long that will take? Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip, with captions underneath.

Eva on a slide. My camera's delay is a bit too long to get a great picture on the slide, especially since I was a bit nervous having it near all those splashing people.

Hadley is all smiles as she comes down.

Kassy is nervous about all the turns and about not being in control. By the end of our stay, she was all smiles, though still cautious.

Grandma Pam giving a little lap time to all the grandkids.

Kassy only liked the tube in the wave pool if she could control it at the zero entry point. Take the tube into deeper water and she would have nothing to do with it.

Aunt Tricia and Uncle Kyle brought early Christmas gifts--the Pegasus from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. As Hadley likes to say, "OOH la la."

Tom teaching his mother knee strengthening exercises.

My mom and dad with the girls.

For a laugh

I will have the Thanksgiving post up tomorrow, until then....Few of my blog readers know that I am a parrot-nut. Looseyfur (a friend from high school) may be the only regular reader not in my immediate family who can attest to my adoration. Around a sweet parrot, I act like those crazy people who swoon over dogs or cats. I would own multiple parrots if I could justify the expenses. As it is, I just enjoy them at the pet store. Knowing my affection of cockatoos in particular, my dad sent me this video. It made me laugh out loud. Is this funny to other people, or just to bird lovers? And when I finished laughing, I started checking out this Bird Rescue League that writes the blog. It's in Indiana--not too far away. Maybe there is a way.....

Numbers

Amanda's already been on my case about these numbers even though it is still earlish on a Monday. So I didn't get all my readings again. But I was on vacation and zipping down water slides. It's so hard to keep track of time in those situations. Here's what I did get, even the really bad one that I want to hide from you. I added some notes, mostly for myself, of what I was eating. And I called Amanda's fabulous internal medicine doctor for an appointment. I am on the waiting list until February. Until that time I will keep my regular lab tests and appointment with my current mediocre doctor. My goal for next week is to post all four readings and to make an appointment with an eye doctor. (Diabetics should do this every year, it's been quite a bit longer for me.) It does feel good to be moving in the right direction finally. Thanks for helping me; I need the support.
(Reminder: target is 80-120mg/dL for fasting and under 160 mg/dL two hours after a meal)
So for the week beginning 11/ 24
Fasting 124
After breakfast--120 (Special K protein plus and a little Special K with fruit, cow's milk, water)
After lunch, never managed to take (two hours after lunch is tough for me. I get so busy and forget--I'll get them all this week)
After dinner 223 (oops..salad, three smaller pieces of pizza and half a rice crispy bar)

When I get more time I will post pictures and details of our Thanksgiving trip.