MMW is under construction. Or, at least, we’re talking about it. It might not happen any time soon, or, you know, ever, but there is definite discussion about it. So don’t leave us completely, or if you do, check back now and then to see if we’ve moved on like we said we would. It might be a while, but we won’t be gone forever.

Or, maybe we will be, but in the meantime, you can check us out other places. The Wiz blogs at Diabetics are Naturally Sweet, and I blog at Living With PKD and Melissa blogs at Gerbera Daisy Diaries and Tracy blogs at, well, if you don’t know how to find Tracy M., I feel kinda sorry for you. She’s over at Dandelion Mama, which gets more hits than pretty much any other blog in the universe.

If we don’t really come back, know that we’ve loved blogging here, and we’ve loved having you as readers. You guys are awesome.

Have any of you ever had your eight year old about-to-be-baptized child go through an episode of doubt and/or anxiety? Not an “I’m nervous people will be looking at me” kind of thing. I’m talking about sincere soul-searching, deep pondering, real detailed questioning. A sort of existential or spiritual anxiety.  At the age of eight.
Anyone?

One of my life goals is to practice hippotherapy. Hippotherapy is when a PT, OT, or an ST uses riding a horse to achieve certain therapeutic goals. Also, although the research is slim, animal assisted therapy has shown to improve therapeutic outcomes for a variety of populations, including stroke patients and students on the autistic spectrum.

Basically, it’s therapy WITH A HORSE. Because HORSES ARE AWESOME. (more…)

We’re talking about Buffy, femininity, aggression, and parenting over at Segullah. It’s great fun and you should come and join us.

This month happened to be J’s birthday, and his very lovely primary teacher made him some of the most amazing brownies I have ever seen. Seriously, they were gorgeous—huge, thick slices of chocolate covered in an amazing chocolate concoction that involved peanut butter chips and frosting and mini peanut butter cups cut in half. They were on a paper plate, zipped into a gallon sized ziploc bag, and they slipped out of my hand as I was getting in the car. Blessedly, they landed frosting side up. I picked them back up and handed them to my husband, telling him to handle them with care. Then I drove home. (more…)

This video is circulating around FB. If you’re too lazy to click the link, basically it’s a video made by guys at BYU that shows how easily it is to get a girl’s phone number. Just ask! Yes, two guys go up to women they have never met, say to them, “Put your number in my phone.” And the women do it. According to the blurb on the bottom of the video, only 25% of the girls they approached refused.

I’ve been thinking about this the last few days. (more…)

We have a winner!

The number is 391!!

Her name is Mindi P!

I couldn’t be happier.  I know Mindi, she is a lovely lovely person.

In fact, I think everyone who gave is a lovely lovely person.  I know this is a terrible time to have a fundraiser.  I know so many people’s paychecks went down with the new tax changes.  I know you are all working on your taxes and yet nobody’s received their refund yet.  I know paying for the holidays is still stinging, and I know there are many New Year’s Resolutions to stick to a budget and save more money.

So I just want to say thank you.  THANK YOU.  I got many people who said “Sorry it’s not more.”  Well, technically I could be sorry it’s not more as well.  It would be great if everybody could throw thousands and thousands of dollars to cure my disease.  But I am not sorry.  I am just happy.  We raised right around $1200, and that, my friends, is $1200 Dr. Faustman didn’t have before.

So THANK YOU once again, and CONGRATULATIONS, MINDI!

It has come to my attention that when donating to Faustman labs, there is a place to enter an alternate email, and they say that a notification will be sent to that email.  I totally spaced that. mostly because every time I’ve donated, I’ve never felt the need to let somebody else know.

It came to my attention because somebody I know entered my email in that spot instead of forwarding me her receipt. Then when I did not respond, she wondered what her ticket numbers were.  I hadn’t received a notification of her donation.  I am not sure when MGH sends those notifications, but it would appear that they are not automatically generated.  I’m guessing they do it once a month?  I am not sure.

So,  if you have donated, but have not received an email from me with numbers on it, please forward me the copy of your receipt so you can be entered to win the Ipad mini.

Here are the steps:

1. Go donate.  Every $3 gives you one “ticket” number.

2. Receive receipt. (This IS automatically generated.  You will get a lovely notice about how you are keeping medicine alive and whatnot).

3. Forward me the receipt.  (Your credit card number is NOT displayed.  I will not spam you.  I am a nice person.)

4. My email is heidithewiz at gmail dot com.

5. Receive email back from me with magic numbers on it.  (They’re not really magic. No beanstalk will grow if you plant them.)  I am fairly good at emailing back in a good time frame.  It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

6. Keep receipt for your tax records.  Deduct amount next year.  You know, if you remember.

7. Come back to my blog on Monday to see if your numbers actually were magic and caused an ipad mini to appear in the mail.

This giveaway closes on SUNDAY, FEB. 3 at MIDNIGHT (Arizona time).  At that point, I will put all the numbers into random.org, and display the winning number, along with the winner’s first name and last initial.  As in “Congratulations go to #0 HEIDI K.” (Which I won’t actually say, because that’s me, and I’m not winning my own contest.  That would make me a NON nice person.)

SO BASICALLY, IF YOU HAVE DONATED BUT NOT RECEIVED ANYTHING BACK FROM ME, PLEASE EMAIL ME.

The end.

See original post here.

Around 9:30 p.m. my husband decides it’s a good time to workout.  Hey, you do what you have to do.

“Want to work out with me?”

“No.  I can’t work out this late.  I’ll go hypo all night.”  (Diabetes as excuse.  Nicely played.)

He begins his insanity.  I continue to play games on my phone. (I’m really good at Scramble.  Want to play?  I will destroy you.)

“Can you find the remote for the ceiling fan when that round is done?”

(staring intently at my phone)  ”Sure”.

After my round is done, I totally forget, and like a good wife, leave the room to get some water.  My sugars were a little high, and I was thirsty.  Then I remember like an ACTUAL  good wife, and so I go back in to get the ceiling fan going for him.

The outside door was open.  (We live in Arizona.  It’s acceptable to open doors in January.)

He’s there doing his jumping jacks and all the other whatchadoos and stuff.

“A bird flew in.  It’s either in the corner or Suzy is eating it.” (he continues his squats and pushups)

“What?  There’s a dead bird under here?”

“Not (puff) sure. Check the (puff) corner.”

Suzy is one of our dogs.  I don’t want to get too graphic about what was under the bed, but let’s just say the score was easily Bird: 0.  Dog: 1.

And still, he’s working out.

I feel I have to make a statement.

“I AM NOT DEALING WITH A BIRD CARCASS UNDER THE BED.”

And so he stops, and we remove the mattress, box spring, maneuver the bed, and proceed to clean everything up that was under the bed.

After, of course, luring the dogs outside. (She won’t come out! Get a piece of meat!  She’s EATING a piece of meat! Ew!)

OK.  It begins.  I have a goal this year to raise money for Faustman labs.  I chose the 4th anniversary of my diagnosis to do it.  I have been cheating death for 4 years now, and I would really like it if all Type 1s could just go back to normal living, without the feeling with every shot that we’re basically on “borrowed time.”  I think Faustman has the best chance of doing this, and so, here we are.

My husband’s company has kindly donated an ipad mini to the cause.  It can be yours.

I know, it sounds spammy, but it isn’t.  Here’s a pic of me holding it. Don’t we look cute together? I will mail it to you, possibly. Exciting, isn’t it?  Do you feel the excitement?

(Don’t ask me why I’m not smiling.  More drama, possibly?  I don’t know.  It is what it is.)

So, here’s how it’s going to work.  You go to the website and donate.  For every $3 you donate, I will assign you a number, a virtual “ticket”, if you will.  So, if you donate $9, you get 3 tickets.  However, if you donate $10, you still only get 3.  The extra dollar is just because you’re nice.  So, if you donate $50, you will get
16.  (But if you go up to $51, you get 17). Basically, take what you donate, divide by 3, and voila.  There you have it.

Once you donate the money, Massachusetts General Hospital will email you a receipt.  This is automatically generated.  I have received several of these receipts, and I know what they look like.  Your credit card number is not on it.  As proof of your donation, you need to forward me a copy of this receipt.  Please send it to heidithewiz at gmail dot com.

Once I receive your email, I will email you back telling you your number or numbers.

That’s it.  In one week from today, on February 3rd, I will use random.org to generate a winner.  I will then announce the winner, and mail you the ipad mini.  (Assuming that you’re the winner.)

This is in time for Valentine’s Day, so if you want to give your sweetheart a really cool gift…..I’m just saying, s/he would be impressed.

A few extra things.  Your name and address will be on the receipt. I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, but if you win, I would need that info anyway to send you the ipad.  I promise I am not building a mailing list.  I will not spam you.  Massachusetts General will not spam you.  (I even signed up to receive email updates, and I don’t get very many).  Please do not pay pal me any money. I am not a non-profit, so you need to send it directly to her. I don’t want your money, I want Dr. Faustman to get your money.

Also, please keep your receipt, as your donation is tax deductible.

I am told to be as legal as possible, I have to have a “no purchase necessary” option.  And so, if you would like a number and be entered in this giveaway, but don’t want to donate, please write me an essay of at least 300 words about diabetes.  For each essay, you’ll get a number.  Please do not send me the same essay repeatedly.  I am trying to raise money here, people.  I am trying to make the no purchase option necessary as sucky as possible so people find it easier to give three bucks.

Stats on the ipad mini:  It is the 16 GB, WiFi only option.  It is black.  My son wants it.  He doesn’t get it.

Odds:  I have no idea.  Depends of how many people enter, and how much they give.

So there you have it.  Please enter, and May the odds be ever in your favor…..

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Actually, it was almost 4 years ago. On Sunday, it will officially be 4 years. 4 years ago TODAY I was just feeling like total crap. I was sleeping a lot, and could not get enough liquid in me to save my life. Plus I couldn’t see very well. All classic symptoms, really.

And so, to “celebrate”…on that day, I will be doing an online fundraiser for Dr. Faustman, the researcher who’s work is the most exciting to me. www.faustmanlab.org

The prize will be an Ipad mini.

It sounds spammy. It’s not. I’m staring at the ipad right now. I kind of want to just open it and keep it, but I won’t. My husband’s company kindly donated it.

So come back on Sunday. Tell your friends. And if your pancreas works, be grateful.

CJane posed a question on FB today, about how she gets emails from women who have converted to Mormonism because of Mommy Blogs, but then are crushed when they find out that our lives aren’t really all that sparkly, that Mormons have the same problems as everybody else. She posed the question of how blogs can be more real, or even if we have a responsibility to show the grittier sides of our lives.

I kinda grinned at that, because dude, I don’t think we sparkle over here very much. We’re pretty gritty, aren’t we? At the very least, we all have a strict policy against putting up cute pictures of our well dressed and well coiffed children, so at least we aren’t making anybody feel bad because our kids are cuter than yours. (Because they are. Totally. My kids are gorgeous. Unkempt, dirty, sticky, mismatched little bundles of awesomeness.)

Still, it’s not like we reveal everything. (more…)

…and not just for the kids. For me as well.

Yes, peeps, I am headed back to school. For my Associate’s. Yes, I already have a Bachelor’s. In a few years time, if I play my cards right, I might just get my high school diploma!

I am going to the local community college to become a Radiographer. Think X-Ray Tech, Bone Density scans, MRI’s, etc., etc. I’m looking forward to it. I need to get some biology pre-req’s (anatomy! Hello!) out of the way before I can enter the program, but oddly enough, I HAVE all the other requirements for an Associates so I just need the required Bio and Psych classes. (Also writing 101. However, my transcript did get me out of writing 102. Explain that one, suckas.)

I haven’t been to college for 10 years.

Do people still take notebooks and pens to class? Or is it all laptops and ipads? Do people still GO to class, or just download lectures? I have 2 online courses and one ‘brick and mortar’ class+lab. Not sure how this is all going to work.

Also, anatomy books? Pricey.

Wish me luck. Give me advice. Thanks

P.S. I was all set to raffle off an Ipad mini that would kindly be donated by my husband’s company in order to raise money for Dr. Faustman. Apparently online raffles are illegal, unless you have a “no purchase necessary” option. Grrr….you guys totally would have donated for that, right?

It’s January. Which means I’m cleaning.

Our bedroom has long been a mess. Not just your typical hey, get those socks off the floor kind of mess, but the kind where there are piles of stuff in each corner that have no home. Actually, it’s not really stuff—it’s paper. Books, mostly, because we got rid of some bookshelves and then waited a long time to get new ones, which means there were lots of homeless books for a while.

But we got some Christmas money, and hoo boy, we spent it on shelves. Big Ikea shelves, which aren’t what I would call beautiful, but are at least a step up from the Walmart shelves we had in there. Add a new coat of paint and new bedding, and it feels like a different room! Or, at least I think it will, once we figure out where to house all these homeless books. And what color to paint the walls. And which new comforter to buy.

And what to do with the paper. It’s always the paper. (more…)

So, this year my main goal is to raise money for Dr. Faustman. Her research is very exciting to me, and she needs $25.2 million dollars, currently she has $13.5 of it. My occasional 50-100 bucks that I send her way just isn’t going to cut it. Frankly, I don’t have millions, and well, most people I know, in fact it is likely that everyone I know, are in the same boat.

I asked someone who has a history of raising money how to do it. He said “You ask people.” It was less than helpful advice.

So I am thinking if I use that same 50-100 bucks to buy something cool-ish, and then raffle it off for $3/ticket (given directly to Faustman labs, so you can take the tax donation) that it might make some money. Hopefully. Maybe.

The question is, what would you guys (since you and my facebook friends are pretty much the target audience here) be willing to buy a ticket to get? It would have to be something I could mail easily. Costco has gift cards to Legoland, or they also have Nutri System cards if weight loss is your goal this year - and no, I have no idea if Nutri System works or not. I could just do a gift card to Target or Amazon.

What say you, peeps?

I’ve been trying to think of anything momentous that happened this year, and I can’t think of anything. It’s been a pretty quiet year. We didn’t go anywhere where somebody was speaking a foreign language, we didn’t buy a new car, or repaint our house, or buy new furniture. We *did* get a puppy, as well as some new bookshelves for our bedroom , so, you know, that’s something to put in our Christmas letter. Although I didn’t do Christmas cards or letters this year, because I just didn’t have it in me. Sad, but true. Next year. Maybe.

But our bishop, a super goal oriented guy if there ever was one, has challenged everybody in the ward to set some goals. Spiritual ones, specifically. And I’ve been thinking–what does it mean to have a spiritual goal? (more…)

I’m not gonna lie, 2012 was a hard year to be a Republican. It’s bad enough that we have to claim the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Throw in Todd Aiken’s “legitimate rape” comments, Anne Coulter calling the president a retard, and the entire Virginia state legislature’s ideas on decreasing abortion rates, and you get a whole boat load of facepalm worthy moments. Sometimes I would ask myself, “WHY am I affiliated with such bozos? This is embarrassing.”

But I remember the one day when I picked up one of Glenn Beck’s books in a bookstore, just to peruse. I have no love for Glenn Beck, for a variety of reasons, and was ready to read things I would quickly mock. To my utter shock, I found myself agreeing with almost everything I read. Mostly the stuff I was skimming was about government subsidies and free markets, so maybe there was more stuff in there that would make my blood boil. But I came home and told my husband, “I WAS AGREEING WITH GLENN BECK! What does this mean??!?” My husband grinned at me and said, “It means you’re a true Republican at heart, babe.”

So I’m a Republican. But this year, I felt like I spent a lot of time saying things like, “Yeah, that guy’s nuts, but not all of us are.” “Yeah, well, that’s kinda stupid, but Republicans have lots of good ideas”, and “Yeah, but…” and “Well, okay, but….”. And in the end, the country just didn’t buy it.

Along those same lines, I wonder these days if it’s hard to be a gun owner. (more…)

There was a period in my life in the early to late nineties when my mother bought me pants suits. Some of them were a little matronly for a 20 year old, but some of them were very, very nice. I had one that was made out of blue wool, with a blue suede jacket that matched. It was classy, and very expensive. I had another one that was sort of a houndstooth color, and was made out of silk. Yet another one was slate colored, with a matching blazer and a matching blue silk blouse. I still have the blouse–it is a classic cut, and the material is such high quality that even though it is almost 15 years old, it still is absolutely lovely and in great shape. (more…)

I’ll admit it. I suck at playing with my kids.

I mean, I’m pretty good at taking them places where they *can* play, like the park, or an indoor something, and I think I’m giving them ample opportunities for physical activity–basketball, ballet, Tae Kwon Do, etc. And since it’s fall, aka, the ultimate season of quixotic lawn chores, we’ve had some fun with leaves, because there is pretty much an endless supply of fun with leaf piles, rakes, and leaf blowers.

It’s when my kids get creative that I fall a little short of happy fun mom. (more…)

I’ve talked about how I have nightmares often. They usually stem from some version of THE MAN in my home or in my room. And they almost always involve a lot of screaming on my part.

My husband is a patient man. (more…)