Murrini Monday ~ It's Spooktacular!

It's been too long since my last Murrini Monday post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been having fun with murrini. Quite the opposite, in fact! A few weeks ago I received the Monster Mash blend from Lori and Kim and I can't keep the critters away from my stash!

Dragons like to steal murrini in broad daylight. They are that bold. This trio found a Frankenstein head, a zombie head and a candy corn, and they're not letting them go.

These two big hole dragons got ahold of a jack-o-lantern and a bat. They act like they had nothing to do with taking them - they won't make eye contact with me.

This army green dragon picked out one of my largest skulls and then asked me to paint her toenails orange to match the murrini.

This time of year, black cats feel quite deserving of something special like Halloween Murrini. Two of these cats picked out murrini from my stash, but one slinked off with a candy corn in his mouth. 

The gory eyeball murrini is one of my very favorites from this blend. This elephant an pug obviously agreed with me. 

The Monster Mash murrini blend is already sold out, but you can still purchase smaller packs of two varieties, like the Creature Feature blend of black bats and spooky spiders. Funny, none of my critters has swiped a spider murrini yet . . . or maybe I haven't come up with a critter brave enough to stick one to - any ideas? What kind of critter would be able to handle a spider murrini?

Now I'd better start doling out more Halloween murrini to all my critters, because guess what? Lori and Kim have already stocked holiday murrini! Find these wonderful little pieces in the Holiday Shop!

HAPPY MURRINI MONDAY!!!

Destination ME - week 2

Last week I announced that I was going to start taking care of ME. I was inspired by Hallie, who writes The Princess and the Pump blog (check out Hallie's latest Destination ME post HERE). My goal last week was to start getting more sleep. I wish I could say that I achieved that goal, but . . . Zzzzzzz. Where was I? Oh yeah, more sleep. I do believe I was asleep before 11pm on two nights, but that's not enough of an improvement. Getting enough sleep is something I've struggled with for a long time. When I used to wait tables, I'd come home at 11pm or midnight (wreaking of pizza, sometimes waking up my husband just because he could smell the sausage and garlic). But I wouldn't go right to sleep - noooo, that was "my time." I'd stay up and watch whatever show I'd recorded and usually nod off around 1am or so. When I left my waitressing job, I could not break that habit of staying up late. I obviously still can't break it. So I'm going to put it on the back burner and try some easier, mini goals this week.

First, I'm going to get outside for a walk every day. And I don't mean taking bead packages down the driveway to the mailbox. I'm talking a walk around the block at the very least. I had my follow-up appointment with the Infectious Disease doctor (lots of hand sanitizer in that office) last week, and he gave me to go ahead to start exercising. Hooray! He also warned me that I'd be winded easily. Boo! But I guess that's to be expected after nearly two months of pneumonia. 

It's been super hot outside, but soon it will be cold and rainy and snowy, so I'm going to take advantage of the nice weather and breath some fresh air. I've already started doing this and let me tell you, it's a mood lifter for sure. I've walked twice with my neighbor/bff, and not only are we getting exercise, we get to catch up with each other and vent - the cheapest therapy.

I walked once by myself, and even ran for a bit (the doctor was right, but winded would be an understatement). When I go by myself, I take my iPod and listen to music. That's my second goal - more music! I tend to listen to talk radio (nothing political or controversial, just good, fun talk) when I'm making dinner or driving. But I'm making an effort to play more tunes in the house or keep my iPod on while I do laundry, etc. It really does keep me moving, sometimes a little faster than usual. :)

For my third mini goal, I'm going to make sure I have breakfast every day. I know all the good things about eating breakfast, yet I tend to get caught up in my day and don't eat until around lunchtime when I'm too hungry to make smart choices. So I've been making green smoothies (they taste much better than they look, trust me!). Today I'm having half a banana, a handful of frozen mixed fruit, a bunch of kale, chia seeds (ch ch ch chia!), a few walnuts, a couple spoonfuls of Vanana yogurt from Trader Joe's, water and ice. Cheers!

Good luck on all the goals you have set for the coming week!

Destination ME

This post has been a long time coming.

First off, some background - I stole the title and the first sentence of this post from one of my favorite new (to me) blogs, The Princess and the Pump: A Type 1 Diabetes Blog. I can't remember exactly when or how I found the P and the P blog, but I'm almost sure it was late at night while I was trolling the 'net for information on Type 1 diabetes. The author, Hallie, is a wife, teacher and mother to a darling T1D girl. In her blog, Hallie chronicles the challenges they endure and triumphs they achieve with their T1D child. It is a wonderful resource for parents of diabetic children. 

Hallie's daughter is elementary-school age and was diagnosed at age 3. My T1D daughter is a freshman in high school and was diagnosed at age 12. The circumstances that Hallie and I deal with are probably very different, but still very much the same. Her daughter, being so young, is still dependent on her parents for her diabetic care. My daughter is fairly independent with her diabetes care, but that doesn't mean I'm not there questioning when she last tested her blood sugar and did she do a correction for a high number, etc. With all that goes on with having a T1D child, it's easy to lose yourself in it. Hallie's most recent blog post, Destination ME, is about how she is going to find her way back to herself. She will have a weekly post about her current goal, and she invited her followers to join her. When I saw that, I thought, "Count me in!" It was just what I needed. It was just what I'd been thinking. It is so easy to get caught up in our children and lose sight of ourselves. And having a child with diabetes - or any other challenging illness or circumstance - compounds that. 

Hallie's goal this week is to get more sleep. As much as I'd like to be original, I'm going to make that my goal, too. Sleep is where it all starts. 

I don't check my daughter's blood sugar in the middle of the night like we did when she was first diagnosed, so I shouldn't be as sleep deprived as I am. My sleep deprivation is mostly self inflicted. I find I can't go to sleep until after I know all of my kids are sleeping. If my T1D daughter has had a high or a low right before bed, of course I'm up with her until we get her numbers in check. But even when everything is going well, I tend to stay up until I know everyone is asleep. With two teenagers, this can be pretty late. 

Sleep is also important for me right now as I'm getting over this awful bout of pneumonia. I've been struggling with it since the end of July, and I'm finally feeling pretty good. So at the moment, exercise is out of the question. Getting more sleep would be the best thing I could do for myself. 

As I embark on this Destination ME journey, I know it's not just for me. If I can get to where I feel like myself again, my family will benefit, too. And my T1D daughter, a teenager, needs good examples healthy living. She doesn't need a grouchy mom with dark circles under her eyes. 

This goal won't be easy. It's years of a bad habit I need to break, but now is the time.

I'm going to say I'd like to be asleep every night by 11pm. That didn't happen last night, even after reading Hallie's post. But tonight I will stick to it. 

** I know I've been absent from my blog for months. I will definitely be back here more often, starting with Murrini Mondays (I have some awesome Halloween murrini to show off!). Then I'll post my new Destination ME goals on Wednesdays. I like the idea of putting a new weekly goal right in the middle of the week - it will change things up for sure. I probably won't post every day because that's when I get overwhelmed and just stop completely. But I'll take baby steps with my blog as I will with my new goals, so please check back!