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I promise you, I don't go looking for bloggable moments from Charlie. I don't follow him around the house like the Verizon Wireless guy, asking, "How do feel about diabetes now? How do you feel about diabetes now? How do you feel about diabetes now?"

Take last night, for instance. I was minding my own business as I dried him off after his shower and we walked into his room, when he hits me with ,

"Dad, do you ever wish you had diabetes?"

"Well ,," I said, stalling while thinking how best to respond.

"Well, sometimes I do because I don't want you to feel alone."

"Oh," Charlie said with a thin smile. "I thought you were going to say 'no.'"

"Why?" (READ MORE)

In anticipation of my end of the month endo appointment, I have to go for fasting blood work this week. I'm dreading it. To me, this one of the most inconvenient things in the world for several reasons.

First off, it has taken years for me to get into the habit of eating breakfast. Now that I'm a regular at the breakfast table, I'm completely hooked on the most important meal of the day. I can't leave home without it.

Second, I don't think its safe for me to drive on an empty stomach. It's kind of like not drinking liquor on an empty stomach. It's just a bad idea. I'm low, I'm shakey, I can't see straight. I'm liable to curse at anyone who crosses my path, even if they do have the right of way. Granted, the doctors office is down the hill and around the bend, literally 3 minutes away. But still, I'm not fond of driving before eating. (READ MORE)

bigevil600

Since becoming a "Weight Watcher," I have noticed the amount of stress in my life has increased. Having diabetes means I carry around a bunch of stuff with me where ever I go. I have my Glucose testing machine, strips, lancets, glucose tabs, and not to mention my carb counting book.

And now I have to add my Dining Out Guide which gives me the point values to restaurant food, my sliding scale for figuring point values, my tracker which I log my points in, and the Food Guide that has point values for all kinds of foods. So you see, I have more stuff to remember these days then I did before. (READ MORE)

My son's baptism is this coming weekend and I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with the perfect menu. At first, I was thinking go easy, buy everything. Then I switched to the idea of save money, make it yourself. Now I've settled on buy some, make some.

What to make, and what to buy? I was going to buy a cake, then I thought it's a quick and easy bake, just pick up a mix and voila, its practically done for you. But then I realized the mixes probably have so many chemicals and preservatives in them, not to mention my arch rival white flour.

So I went online, hoping to find a mix at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and instead I found a recipe for a natural yellow cake mix, and I had all the ingredients in the house. (READ MORE)

Did anyone catch the new TLC show, "I Can Make You Thin"? I saw the commercials for it and thought it sounded a bit wacky, but I wanted to check it out anyway. I set the DVR to record it, but it recorded Jon & Kate Plus 8 instead.

I watched part of the show as a rerun this weekend and I have to say it really does sound like such a common sense approach to eating. On the first show, he premiered his 4 Golden Rules, which are:

1. When You Are Hungry, Eat. This sounds like such a no-brainer, doesn't it? But I have to admit, there are plenty of times when I'm hungry and don't eat because it's not meal time and I'm "on a diet." I didn't see the whole show, but I have to guess part of this is if you aren't hungry, don't eat. And I'm sure many of us have eaten when we weren't hungry. (READ MORE)

I modified a recipe from the Hungry Girl website for a low sugar eggnog and found it very acceptable. It has nearly the same taste and mouth feel as the lite eggnog I've been drinking. It may be a bit late for this year's holiday season, but there's still New Year's.

The original recipe is here. My version is below.

6 C 1% milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 small (4-serving) package Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding mix, Vanilla
6 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda)
1 tsp Mace (or nutmeg)
(optional) 6 oz dark rum or 1 tsp rum extract (READ MORE)