Help me carry this fridge downstairs…weekend report

We had a busy weekend and I have to share it with you and I have to start at the beginning.

Friday

My best friend (who isn’t Brad) moved a few weeks ago. We lived 10 minutes away from each other in high school, we went to college more than an hour apart, then eventually we ended up 10 minutes away from each other for two years. But now she and her husband are settling into their new home… which is an hour away again! It’s a big adjustment because there are no spur of the moment weekend breakfast dates with them or text messages that say, “We’re in the mood for Mexican, want to meet us?”

We went over to their place on Friday night and had a nice time. It was clear that our husbands miss each other too.

Friday night was also pod change night, so I placed a new pod on my stomach and when the canula inserted, it made a strange sound, but everything kind of looked okay and the pod and PDM didn’t indicate a problem. Then a rather quick upward trend made me realize that I wasn’t receiving insulin… and it kind of hurt. I made the call to remove the pod and use my emergency purse pod. When I pulled off the weird pod the reason became apparent… the needle that deploys the canula, did not retract!

I had a fairly large gauge needle in my stomach instead of the flexible plastic tube it was supposed to leave behind. The silver color of the needle in that tiny window looked like it could have been the blue canula. This has never happened to me before. I really hope it never happens to me again either.

Needle on the left and canula on the right.

It might be tough to see, but the pod pictured on the right is the way a pod looks when I remove it (and fold up the adhesive). That blue thing is the canula, or tiny tube, that goes 6.5 millimeters into my body and gives me insulin. The pod on the left never retracted the insertion needle. Ouch!

Saturday

After checking out a new breakfast spot with our friends, we headed home. Since it was reasonably nice outside and just a little windy, we tag-teamed the yard work.We mowed, edged, trimmed hedges and cleaned up a bunch of weeds and large plants that had invaded.

I went down the rearrange the basement so we could store our patio furniture for the season while Brad got the snow blower out to make sure it’d be ready for the first snow. When I came back outside, he had our old refrigerator tipped on it’s back and was removing the doors that had been put on upside-down. We had stored the fridge in the garage until the doors could be removed since it wouldn’t fit through the doorway to go into our basement.

“Will you help me carry this fridge downstairs?” he asked. If it were anyone else, I’d have laughed in their face, but it was Brad and he usually has a plan. The two of us managed to get a full-sized refrigerator into the basement. Then we carried down the patio furniture, covered the grill and called it a day.

Sunday

We finally started tackling the kitchen on Sunday. With the new range hood installed and the new stove in place, painting came next. So we prepped the room and got it primed with a first coat on it. We tackle a second coat and old breakfast nook this week!

Let’s paint!

My updated kitchen is in sight and the bathroom is next on the list!

Over the weekend, I took the yard work and housework as two more opportunities to do the Big Blue Test. I helped myself through exercise and helped others by recording my blood sugar and exercise to trigger a donation from the sponsors that will help people with diabetes get life-saving supplies, testing, treatment and education. You can do the test even if you don’t have diabetes! Rumor has it, you don’t even have to prick your finger.

How was your weekend?

Rachel

PR professional and social media enthusiast, blogging about life, marriage, coffee and type 1 diabetes.

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