New Drug For Diabetics

Word has it that a new drug is awaiting the FDA approval for type 2 diabetics. Upon approval, this new drug will be called Victoza. In clinical trials it was proven to outdo Byetta. One draw back for Byetta is that it tends to make many patients nauseous. Victoza did cause some nausea, but that side effect went away a lot quicker then what was experienced with Byetta.

Another reason for type 2 diabetics to smile is that with only one injection per day there was a greater reduction in the average blood sugar levels as compared to Byetta users. A few of the other benefits of this new drug is that it does not promote weight gain....(Woo Hoo!). Patients on Byetta suffered more than twice as many low blood sugar episodes compared to those on Victoza. High blood pressure tends to be another problem for diabetics, but Victoza also has shown to benefit that too.

I Am So Excited!! Great strides are being made in the treatment of Diabetes. I would love to live to see a cure for this terrible disease that touches so many lives. I see and feel the toll that Diabetes has taken on me since I was diagnosed 15 years ago. I look at my 16 year old grand daughter (Britt), and feel so much pride in how she has refused to allow type 1 diabetes to beat her down. I then say a little prayer that God will soon give someone the knowledge to find the cure.



I want to thank all of you that were concerned about my absence from blogging and the e-mails and notes that I received during that time. I just needed to walk away from posting for a little while. It had become more of an obligation for me than something that I enjoyed and looked forward to doing.

Meanwhile, we have our little veggie garden going, we have a bumper crop of birds hatching in every nook and cranny around here, and the grass keeps growing, Buddy endears himself to us more and more every day and the grand youguns keep right on a growing.

Basically........ Life is Good!!

(and it's great to be back)

Marty Has Been Found

A while back I posted about a friend's son that had been missing since December 29th, 2008. I did a blog page to try and help find Marty @ Marty Is Missing . Since I recently received this e-mail from our friend Jackie, concerning Patty's son, I wanted to update you on the situation:

" The Harris County, TX coroner confirmed (June2) that the unidentified skull they located (they don't have the rest of the skeleton) is that of Patty's son Marty. They have had the skull since April 17. His death is now considered a homicide. They still will not release the skull until their investigation is complete.

The detectives still are not giving any information as to where the skull was found other than it was in Crosby, TX. and that positive identification was made by dental records.

Patty has been handling things fairly well. Ruth Ann, her daughter and caregiver, was not handling it well at all !! "

I can not even imagine what Marty's family is going through, but my heart and prayers reach out to each of them. It is a Native American belief that the dragonfly carries the spirits of our loved ones into the next life. Marty, I hope your journey was a peaceful one after the painful life you lived and horrible death that you suffered.

Today.........

Today, I will delete from my journal two days: Yesterday and Tomorrow. Yesterday was to learn from and Tomorrow...... well that will be the consequence of what I can do today.

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Today, I will face life with the sure knowledge that this day will never return.

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Today, is the last opportunity I have to live intensely, as no one can assure me that I will see tomorrow's sunrise.

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Today, I will be brave enough not to let any opportunity pass me by, my only alternative is to succeed.

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Today, I will invest my most valuable resource: my time in the most transcendental work: my life...

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Today, I will spend each minute passionately, to make today a different and unique day in my life.

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Today, I will defy every obstacle that appears on my way, trusting I will succeed.

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Today, I will resist pessimism, and will conquer the world with a smile and a positive attitude of always expecting the best.

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Today, I will make of every ordinary task a sublime expression,

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Today, I will have my feet on the ground understanding reality and the stars' gaze, and thus will invent my future.

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Today, I will take the time to be happy and will leave my footprints and my presence in the hearts of others, not just in the sands of time.

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Today, I invite you to begin a new season where we can dream that everything we undertake is possible and we fulfill that dream, with joy and dignity.

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Today, why not perform a random act of kindness...?

And, if there are those that you love, tell them, you don't know when it might be your last opportunity. Tell them, as I have just done...today.

Meaningful Monday

THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday, " I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren,

I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said," We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car.

"How far will we have to drive?"

"Just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, "Daffodil Garden".

We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns - great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.

"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.
The second answer was, "one at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain."
The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was. The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than thirty-five years before, had begun - one bulb at a time - to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.

Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time - often just one baby-step at a time - and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

~ author Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards ~

I hope that you choose this day to start planting 'Your bulbs one at a time.' Until tomorrow, may you have a blessed Monday.

Birds Of A Feather..... Revisited

Mama and papa bluebirds have really been busy flying in and out of their house. I am looking for the two of them to start coaxing the babies out of the nest any time now. J.D. and I were walking around the property the other day and found a nest with four eggs tucked into the wood pile that J.D. had stacked recently. Out of curiosity he checked the robin's nest in the Clematis vine. The nest was there, but no eggs and we haven't seen the robin for a while. No doubt mama robin decided to find a different neighborhood to take up residence. I am so glad that the situation was resolved quickly. I wouldn't have enjoyed being referee between the robins and bluebirds..

J.D. told me that he saw one of the hummers zipping around the other day. I saw my first finch of the season this morning at one of the feeders. We have been visited by another type of Bluebird every year since we have been here. They could be indigos because they are common to this area, but they look more like the mountain bluebirds that are common to Western USA. No matter what they are rightfully named....they are beautiful.

Chris came with the tiller Friday evening and tilled our garden for us. He left it for J.D. to take another few runs through the garden plot. Now all we need to do is work the dirt up and have it ready to plant around Mother's Day. I can't wait. I love fresh vegetables, especially the ones that we grow ourselves.

I will be gone tomorrow for a stress test, but I have already got the Meaningful Monday post scheduled to publish in the morning. Thanks Nanna for sending this wonderful story to me. I hope you all have a blessed week.