Oh. My. Goodness.

Just when I think my life is crazy enough, it just had to go and throw us an autoimmune disease.  We're alright though.  Really.  Sometimes I feel like I'm giving myself a mental and emotional hug to hold myself together and avoid flying into a million little pieces, but my 9-year-old is amazing.  If he can handle it, so can I.  No, it's not easy- he has shed many tears and hid behind his bed last night in an effort to avoid a shot- but who wouldn't?  I'm super impressed and very proud of how brave he is, and how he goes out of his way to compliment me on my improving injection skills.  What a great kid.

So, I have had to become somewhat of a Type 1 Diabetes expert in the last 5 days.  Let me share a few things I now know.  Some things I already knew, thanks to that bugger of a Human Biology course, but so much as been added to my knowledge.

• Diabetes is not caused by diet, activity level, or lifestyle.  You either have a genetic predisposition for it or not, and that predisposition is either turned on or not.  There is no known cause and, as of yet, no cure.
• Type 1 diabetes means that the pancreas no longer produces insulin.  
• Insulin is like a key that opens the body's cells to let the sugar in and provide your body with energy.  
• If the insulin is not there to open the cells, the sugar stays in the bloodstream.  Your body then tries to get rid of it through urination, but the only thing that does is cause a cycle of unquenchable thirst and dehydration until your body shuts down.
• Insulin has to be injected into fat.  It is a protein, so if you were to ingest it in pill or liquid form, your body would just digest and dispose of it instead of allowing it to enter the bloodstream.
• Much to my pleasant surprise, Benjamin doesn't have any diet restrictions.  We just have to plan ahead and know exactly how many carbs are in the food he wants to eat and then inject enough insulin to cover those carbs.  Fats and proteins are low in carbs, so meats, cheeses, and many vegetables are "free" foods that he can eat at any time without insulin.
• He can be as active as he wants to be and do whatever he wants to do as long as he checks his blood sugar before and after exercise to make sure it doesn't get too low.  The only things he cannot do are join the military or pilot a commercial aircraft.  I don't think those were in his life plans, so we're alright with that.

Pretty cool, huh?  Except for all the icky pricking and stuff, I mean.

Now on to other stuff...

Like I said in the last post, I had mega plans for my Christmas break that just didn't happen due to unforeseen events.  Here's a glimpse of one my projects in progress:

A little cluttered, but not too bad, right?  Well, I have a confession to make.  I'm a major clutter-bug.   I like to have things clean, but I freely admit that I have the horrible habit of setting things down on an open surface and walking away.  Hence, the pile of crap now cluttering our table.  My husband cleared all of this off  the shelves and cabinet above and dumped it here:

He was trying to be helpful, but when am I supposed to find the time to find a home for everything between my three boys and the housework and laundry that has piled up between Christmas festivities and 3 days in the hospital???  I'll have to figure that out in the next 5 days before I start my internship and final (YES!) semester of school.  Ha!

Anyway...back to my project in progress.  My goal is to get this fabulous gigantic cabinet to replace the shelves and small cabinet currently in my kitchen.  I have two of these cabinets in other parts of our house (one in the basement storing craft supplies and board games, the other storing the boys' overabundance of toys) and I L.O.V.E. them!  I just buy a bajillion of those clear plastic Sterilite boxes in various sizes, everything gets sorted and stacked neatly an the shelves, and then the doors close to contain my awesomely organized junk.  My future new kitchen cabinet will not only hold the recipes, office supplies, and papers to be filed, but it will also triple the size of my pantry space, thus freeing up counter space without taking up any more floor space.  Counter space!  What a concept.

The other project I need to finish are our Christmas ornaments inspired by these:

Source: thesewingloftblog.com via Martha on Pinterest

I've had them all patch-worked together, cut out and ready to be sewn together for over a week now.  I'll have to finish them up this weekend, just in time to pack them away for next year.  I'll show them to you first, though.  They're pretty awesome.  =)

One thing I did manage to follow through is performing as part of a flute choir on Christmas Day!!!  Honestly, I was very much the weakest link since I haven't played much at all in the last 10 years, but I practiced my patootie off and it was so much fun to pull out the old friend and be a part of an amazing 4-part arrangement of Oh, Holy Night- my favorite Christmas song ever!  The arrangement actually has 7 parts, so our goal is to find enough flutes to do the whole shebang next year.  So excited!

Finally, believe it or not, I get to guest post on Sumo's Sweet Stuff next Friday!!!  She is SO amazing!  I don't know how she finds time to do everything.  I am in awe.  What should I post about???  I have some ideas but would love to hear some more...

I have to go put my littlest monkey to bed now.  'Night, all!