What A Week!

Last week my husband's car kept stalling off. Friends who know about cars said it's most likely the fuel filter or the fuel pump. They said it is relatively easy and inexpensive to change the fuel filter, so last Saturday, my hubby made a couple of calls and went and purchased a fuel filter and he and our son, Nick, changed the fuel filter on his car and it's now running fine!

Also, last Saturday, my van's brake issues became an issue. They had been squeaking for a couple of weeks, but now I could hear and feel them grinding when I pushed the brake pedal. Well, my hubby spoke to those car knowledgeable people again and decided he was going to try to fix my brakes as well to avoid a large garage bill. I made the phone calls and purchased the parts on Monday afternoon, making sure that if we didn't need all of the parts we could return them. So, Monday evening after work, one of my hubby's co-workers was going to help, but that didn't work out, so my hubby decided to try it alone. However, he wasn't quite sure how to remove the parts, so I called my dad who knows about cars, and he came over and explained what my hubby needed to do, and my hubby fixed my brakes all by himself! And I was able to return three items that were un-needed.

So, the repairs for both cars that would have cost us between $200 and $300 at a garage, cost us a little over $100 because my hubby did them himself. I am so proud of him.

Then Tuesday evening, instead of having a regular Diabetes Education Class, each of us in the class had an individual appointment to go in to see the nurse and dietician. The nurse looked over the meds I am taking and explained how the Metforman that I take for the Diabetes works. She also took my blood pressure and looked at my numbers from the previous week of the times I had recorded my blood glucose levels from my personal monitoring. She said that my number look great! She was also pleased that I have been doing some exercising and that I have lost weight. (I have lost a total of 19 lbs. so far). She also checked my feet and explained why it is so important that anyone with Diabetes check their feet on a regular basis as that is the first place problems arise. You can lose feeling in your feet and if you get an infection, it can turn serious and cause the need for amputation of toes or worse. My feet are fine. She suggested that I walk even more than I am -- I've been doing three times a week. She said everyday would be ideal, but they like to see at least FIVE times a week.

The dietician was quite happy with the changes I have made in my diet. She gave me a couple of more suggestions for my diet as well, and she, too, was pleased at my progress thus far.

Walking five times a week! I was wondering how to fit that in. Well, my two older boys are supposed to run as much as possible during this soccer season since soccer requires a lot of running. So, my plan, in the mornings after breakfast, we (the three boys, the puppy and I) will walk, and the two older boys can run part of the route we take. We did that one morning last week and it worked well. We just have to do it more often. Of course, Monday and Tuesday mornings won't work for the boys as they work, so the little guy and I will simply have to take the puppy and walk after taking the older two to work. We did this on Tuesday morning and found it quite enjoyable. This morning it was thundering and raining rather hard, so we didn't walk this morning. However, things cleared off, and when I took the two older boys to soccer practice, I walked six laps around the soccer field.

I have some Leslie Sansone videos I can walk with and some other exercise videos that I can do when weather is not appropriate for walking outside, but I really prefer to walk outside. Our poor old Labrador Retriever was not happy on Tuesday morning when we took the puppy for the walk and left him at home, but I cannot handle them both because he doesn't behave well when he sees other dogs, although I've tried to teach him better. So, I spoke to my dear hubby and on Saturday evening if the weather is cooperative, we will take a walk together and he can take our dear old Elvis while I walk the puppy, Gentry. I am blessed to have a supportive family.

Tuesday was also my boys' last day of freedom, as our homeschool co-op began yesterday and so we are now into the true beginning of our school year. I am looking forward to a regular schedule and not so much busy-ness.

By the way, the veggie lasagna turned out great!